Bai Zhou started awake.
Crow was still right before him. The two of them remained hidden in a secluded corner of the campus, their backs turned to the starlight overhead.
All around was dead silence, broken only by the hysterical shrieks of cicadas.
The crystal ball emanating bone-chilling cold still lay there. The churning gray mist inside gradually converged, and several solid characters emerged, swirling through the surging vapor in vigorous, dancing strokes.
This was...
Intricate script—likely characters specific to divination, a subject Bai Zhou had never studied.
Beside him, Crow spoke at just the right moment, her low voice grave, using a chanting cadence to unveil destiny's guidance:
"[Heart of the mountains! The inverted maiden!
The demon who hurriedly severed its umbilical cord is coming, is coming!
Prayers to God go unanswered, for the answer does not hang in the heavens!
The sun strangles the demon with an umbilical cord; the home of the mountain dweller lies encircled by the mountains!]"
It was delivered in a solemn, chanting tone, yet the content sent an eerie shudder running through Bai Zhou.
He could not help but recall what he had just "seen"—the writhing "mountains" and the mysterious inverted woman—both of which made him feel as though his sanity were plummeting uncontrollably.
A chill and confusion crept silently through Bai Zhou's entire body, stiffening his thoughts. Sensing that something was wrong, he instinctively triggered the rune [Soothe].
Buzz!
As ripple-like waves washed over Bai Zhou's body, he finally let out a long breath, relieved as if he had just pulled himself from a quagmire.
"The process of divination isn't always smooth sailing," Crow said. "Prying into destiny means you might see things you shouldn't, and divination shows you things far closer to their true essence than reality does.
"—And with the essence of certain things, merely 'seeing' is enough to be 'influenced.'"
As she spoke, Crow gathered a few drops of night dew from a nearby bush, stepped over to Bai Zhou, and lightly tapped him with dew-tipped fingers, performing a simplified "SCE."
Namely: Purification, Sanctification, Empowerment.
A familiar, refreshing coolness washed over his body. Just then, a crisp crack sounded in Bai Zhou's ear.
Startled, Bai Zhou immediately turned to look at the crystal ball on the ground.
Yet there were no cracks upon the crystal ball; only the swirling gray mist within seemed slightly diminished...
Crow's expression grew exceptionally grave. "A portion of the crystal ball's spirituality has been permanently lost. That's exceedingly rare.
"Bai Zhou, what did you see?"
"Just like the beginning of the prophecy said..." Pausing to choose his words, Bai Zhou replied in a slightly hoarse voice, "I saw mountains of flesh, the inverted woman, and the Major!"
After he briefly described the scene he had "seen," Crow's face darkened like still water.
"It seems Major Luo isn't just raking in money. He's also plotting something deeply taboo in the Reflected Ruin Realm.
"—Without a doubt, it's a demon summoning! The number-one taboo strictly banned by the authorities!
"Even setting aside that illicit industry chain, if we can find solid proof that the Major is involved in this, no one will be able to save him!"
Though it sounded like good news at first blush, neither Bai Zhou's nor Crow's expression improved in the slightest.
The matter was simply too enormous. Even if the "evidence" lay right there, who would dare venture into such a demonic lair?
"It appears the rituals here were merely the preliminaries for the ritual in the Reflected Ruin Realm," Crow mused thoughtfully. "And that inverted girl is clearly the chosen demonic vessel.
"Unquestionably, even for Major Luo, scheming to orchestrate a demon descent ritual is by no means easy."
With that, Crow calculated the timeline.
"Three years... Based on what you described, this demon summoning ritual should still be a long way from completion.
"Otherwise, the Major wouldn't need to make such a grand, unnecessary fuss about anything else right now; he could just focus all his efforts on doing this one thing in secret."
She paused, then stared at Bai Zhou with a solemn warning:
"—Even so, I still don't advise you to break into that school alone!
"Even a Level 6 Titled Extraordinary might not be able to handle this without leaving disastrous fallout. Any demon summoning ritual, whether successful or not, will ultimately draw the attention of higher-tier beings."
Higher-tier beings...
Bai Zhou nodded without hesitation.
Valuing his life as much as he did, he naturally had no objections.
Eventually, Crow and Bai Zhou turned their attention back to the prophecy provided by the crystal ball, carefully pondering and digesting every line.
Crow's gaze lingered the longest on the final line:
"[The sun strangles the demon with an umbilical cord; the home of the mountain dweller lies encircled by the mountains!]"
Blinking thoughtfully, Crow made a half-joking remark: "Don't you think this 'sun' might refer to you?"
[Chen]—didn't that mean the sun?
"Me? Strangle a demon?"
Bai Zhou pointed at himself and laughed. "Even a demon would find that joke funny, but I don't find it funny at all."
Therein lay the greatest charm of prophecy. Lacking context, a prophecy often signified only the start of a story; without living through it, reading it left one utterly bewildered.
Before everything came to pass, no one knew who the protagonist of the tale would be, nor what the words in the divination corresponded to.
For prophecies never paved roads; they merely illuminated the abyss.
Only by stepping into the abyss themselves could Extraordinaries use prophecy as a lantern to illuminate a sliver of the path ahead.
Greek drama often held that knowing a prophecy in advance only hastened the tragedy's fulfillment, pessimistically calling it fate.
Yet the finest prophecies, even if uttered ten thousand years ahead of time, could only help someone grasp a tenuous chance to alter the outcome a few days, a few minutes, or a few seconds before the event occurred.
And even that sliver of possibility... still demanded every ounce of effort that the astrologer and the prophecy's protagonist could burn away.
Here, Crow paused briefly.
"Johannes Kepler—the celebrated physicist, mathematician, master of astrology, and discoverer of the three laws of planetary motion and the astronomical calendar, who was widely believed in history to have spoken with a mysterious emissary from the starry sky—once said:
"'Every astrologer is a dancer holding a lantern, trembling as they dance with destiny—searching for the slightest chance to improvise within a predetermined melody!'"
As she said this, Crow's voice abruptly cut off.
As if suddenly hearing something, she furrowed her brows and tilted her ear to listen.
"...Is something wrong?"
Bai Zhou heard nothing and looked around blankly.
There was only the soft whisper of the wind, the buzz of cicadas, and the rustle of leaves around them.
Shaking her head, Crow turned and reached into the adjacent shrub.
"Borrowing this for a moment," Crow said politely, as if she could hear the bush's rustling protests. Then, with a crisp snap, she broke off a branch.
Still bearing a cluster of lush green leaves, Crow plugged the branch directly into the crystal ball.
Only then did Bai Zhou notice an empty slot beside the divination crystal ball.
As the branch was inserted, the slot contracted on its own, clamping tight around the twig.
"What is..." Bai Zhou blinked twice.
In the blink of an eye, the cold frosted the dark green leaves, yet a clear, resonant broadcast voice began reciting from within the crystal ball:
"...Repeating! Repeating!
"This is the Tinghai Occult News Channel.
"This is the Eastern Federation's Tinghai City Disaster Response and Investigation Agency! This is the Eastern Federation's Disaster Response and Investigation Agency! We are broadcasting an emergency bulletin to all Extraordinaries in Tinghai City.
"Current monitoring indicates that at 18:35 this afternoon, 'Yuanmeng Middle School,' located within the Reflected Ruin Realm, exhibited anomalous activity and signs of an uprising.
"The unrest is currently within controllable bounds and has not produced reality erosion. The situation is assessed as: Class-E Hazard.
"Our agency will deploy disaster response forces tonight to suppress the uprising, contain the disaster, and conduct investigations, with plans to launch a punitive extermination campaign against the school tomorrow night.
"However, disaster response personnel are limited. Therefore, we are actively recruiting temporary auxiliary personnel from all Extraordinaries across Tinghai City. Both organizations and individual Extraordinaries are welcome to enlist in the expedition. Generous rewards are offered. We urge all Extraordinaries listening to this broadcast to register enthusiastically.
"Maintaining the stability of the Ruin Realms is the duty and obligation of every Extraordinary! Those interested may assemble tomorrow night at 24:00 sharp at the temporary disaster response command post at the main gate of Yuanmeng Middle School. The specific coordinates are...
"Repeating..."
Bai Zhou stared with wide eyes, unable to believe the sounds were coming from the divination crystal ball on the ground.
"Wait... this crystal ball of yours can double as a radio?"
Could a branch really serve as an antenna?
Bai Zhou looked at the swaying green leaves on the branch, finding the whole scene thoroughly bizarre.
"It's 2030. No man is an island in modern society," Crow answered without missing a beat. "Even solitary Extraordinaries tune in to daily broadcasts to stay informed about the occult world."
As she spoke, Crow pulled the branch out of the crystal ball and pressed it back against the broken stem on the bush.
In the blink of an eye, the break vanished. The branch swayed gently, once again growing as part of the bush, with only the frost on its leaves bearing witness to what it had just experienced.
"Years ago, there were newspapers too, but that press ran into some trouble three years back and is temporarily suspended..."
Her voice abruptly trailed off.
Crow suddenly thought of a question:
"Six thirty-five this afternoon—wasn't that the exact time you saw Fang Xiaoyan off and the ritual was broken?"
Frowning, Bai Zhou raised his wrist to check his watch and nodded in confirmation: "That's right. That was the time."
Hearing this, realization dawned on Crow's face, and her eyes lit up.
"It seems the uprising at Yuanmeng Middle School has everything to do with you—and this is your opportunity.
"That demonic pit is definitely not a place you could venture into alone. But now, the authorities have been alerted and are stepping in!
"This might be a chance to fish in troubled waters and gather evidence..."
Her brows knitted slightly again.
"However, there's a problem.
"From what I know, whenever the disaster response agency issues a recruitment broadcast, it nominally invites all Extraordinaries, but in practice, they mainly pick volunteers from other official institutions. Their screening of independent Extraordinaries is exceptionally strict, and an unblemished background is mandatory.
"As for you..."
Gazing at Bai Zhou, Crow hesitated.
Crow didn't need to finish; Bai Zhou knew exactly how that would play out.
A "heinous, vicious" wanted fugitive like him—if he actually went to sign up as the broadcast suggested and got exposed, he'd probably be tackled to the ground on the spot.
They wouldn't even need to assault the school; a walking, breathing merit commendation had delivered himself to their doorstep, and the eager volunteers would surely thank Bai Zhou for his boundless generosity!
However—
"Maybe I have a way around this," Bai Zhou said.
Blinking, Bai Zhou retrieved the school uniform from his chest and shook it open before Crow.
"Help me take a look. If I wear this, will the Reflected Ruin Realm and Yuanmeng Middle School identify me as one of their own?
"...And if that's not enough, what if I add this?"
With that, Bai Zhou pulled out the notebook and slapped it down onto the uniform with a smack.
"This is..."
Crow was taken aback at first, then her pupils constricted slightly as she looked at Bai Zhou and gave an affirmative answer:
"Theoretically feasible! But you must be wary of assimilation and erosion from the uniform and the Reflected Ruin Realm to avoid falling permanently into its clutches.
"Still... this really is the best plan for now!"
Since he had no way of infiltrating the expeditionary force, Bai Zhou would simply become one of the native NPCs slated for "extermination."
A truly brilliant idea.
With her vast experience, Crow knew that when an "anomaly" that eroded its way from the Reflected Ruin Realm into the real world was slain, the material form it left behind would not be reclaimed by the world even if returned to the Reflected Ruin Realm.
It was effectively an unregistered entity without an ID.
Covered completely in the uniform, Bai Zhou would almost certainly be recognized as one of their own by anomalies of low intelligence.
Thus, "Anomalous Middle Schooler" Bai Zhou made his grand debut!
One could tell from the agency's broadcast that they knew virtually nothing about the Yuanmeng Middle School inside the Reflected Ruin Realm.
This was no sudden outburst of an "anomaly"—it was a demonic den deliberately nurtured!
Heaven only knew what state the demon's descent vessel in the depths of that pit was currently in.
When the time came, it wasn't even certain who would be exterminating whom, making picking the right side in advance all the more crucial.
Bai Zhou had little faith in the disaster response agency or the forces they recruited; fortunately, they wouldn't want him either.
Right now, all Bai Zhou needed was for the agency to muddy the waters so he could take advantage of the chaos.
His only worry was the misfortune of running into some clueless strike team inside the school...
"Even so, the danger is still not to be underestimated," Crow reminded Bai Zhou seriously, bending down to pick up the crystal ball.
"The uniform can only make the school as a whole overlook you. When it comes to individual anomalies, you'll only be able to fool the low-intelligence ones.
"If one of those truly terrifying anomalies spots you, you'll be in deep trouble."
Starlight reflected off the crystal ball as Crow locked eyes with Bai Zhou in solemn earnest:
"Although this is an opportunity, you don't actually have to go.
"We can take our time finding another way to bring down the Major later..."
Hearing that, Bai Zhou paused, at a loss for words.
After thinking it through, he eventually shook his head with regret:
"But all the clues point straight there.
"If we miss this chance, who knows when the next one will come.
"Under an endless manhunt, I might not even survive until then."
He waved his hand.
Prudent and protective of his own life as he always was, he nonetheless managed to make up his mind at this critical juncture, a rare streak of ruthlessness surfacing in his eyes:
"Even if it's a dragon's pool or a tiger's den, I have to brave it. Isn't that how life always is?"
In truth, the times in life when one grew fastest were always those critical junctures when one thought, *Fuck it, there's no other way out—I just have to bite the bullet and charge.*
In the end, the youth who mastered iron-headed resolve burst forth onto the scene. Though neither brilliant nor superior to others, he stepped onto the world's stage with solitary courage.
"How can an adventure not be dangerous? Fleeing day after day might be thrilling, but I need something to hope for—a way to put an end to all this."
Bai Zhou slowly clenched his fist.
Before the crystal ball that foretold the future, Bai Zhou the [Adventurer] seemed to be reaching out to seize destiny's slimmest, most impossible chance.
"What if..."
Crow asked softly, as though testing his resolve and prompting him to imagine a grim possibility:
"What if you truly end up in an inescapable, deadly predicament? Have you considered that possibility?
"Even if you don't seize this opportunity, as long as you're alive, there's always a glimmer of hope to turn the tables.
"But if you get trapped in the Reflected Ruin Realm, that really is the end of everything."
Crow cautioned him:
"No one knows what might happen during a demon summoning ritual. I have to remind you once more to be prepared for the worst."
Bai Zhou understood why Crow was being so serious.
He was no child, but in Crow's eyes, he was still a novice on the path of the Extraordinary, unable to fully grasp many dangers.
Demon summoning... even to Crow, it was something requiring utmost caution.
So Bai Zhou didn't act on impulse. He reflected seriously for a moment before giving a measured response:
"...I have thought about it. The thought terrifies me so much I can't sleep."
Those were his words, yet his expression remained remarkably calm.
Thick-skinned youths always forgot the pain once a wound scarred over. One more scar wouldn't hurt. Any hardship crossed wasn't suffering, but growth. As for the hardships one couldn't cross...
"If I really lose so completely that nothing can be salvaged, then there's actually nothing left to fear.
"—See that, Crow?"
Bai Zhou pointed toward a dim streetlamp nearby.
"Inside that bulb, what do you see?"
"...A filament?" Crow answered with certainty.
"Exactly." Bai Zhou nodded cheerfully.
The warm yellow light of the streetlamp illuminated the side of his face.
"I'm afraid of dying, and losing means waiting for death.
"Other kids who fear losing can go back home, farm the land, and ask their moms to whip up a bowl of egg fried rice. But I don't have a mother, I don't have land, and I don't have egg fried rice.
"Being afraid of losing is pointless. Even without an umbrella, sheltering under the eaves until dark won't bring anyone to take me home... So all I can do is pull my jacket over my head and charge forward blindly, whether it's raining, snowing, or raining meteors.
"—I got used to this sort of thing a long time ago."
Murmuring all this calmly, Bai Zhou stepped out from the secluded campus corner and checked his watch:
"Whether I'm killed by some demon or have my head chopped off by the Major makes no difference to me. The worst possible outcome has been chasing me all along.
"Ever since leaving Wancheng, I've spent every day waiting to die. Every single day I stay alive is a blessing."
Bai Zhou set off with hurried strides:
"...Alright, Crow, we don't have much time left to hesitate."
As he walked, he glanced back at Crow.
The youth's silhouette, elongated by the streetlamp, raised a hand to beckon her.
That silhouette carried a hint of exhaustion, but far more of the decisive resolve and nonchalance one needed when facing life's defining moments.
—Just like his lack of hesitation when he first faced Crow's invitation.
"Before that, we still have to deal with the Major's manhunt tonight,"
he said.
"—We'd better get moving!"
It was as though he were rushing to catch the next grand performance.
And in truth, that was exactly what it was.
Only, he was both the director and the lead actor—and even the grunt work of building the stage fell squarely on Bai Zhou's shoulders.
The moon hung high in the sky. The hands on his watch already pointed to 20:01!
Less than three hours remained before the Major's bronze compass would lock onto Bai Zhou again!
What sort of entertainment would that lunatic Major—a man who dared nurture a demon—prepare tonight for the stage Bai Zhou had set?
Without question, the Major today would never underestimate Bai Zhou by even a fraction.
Perhaps Bai Zhou wouldn't even survive to see the demon descend in the depths of the school; tonight's hunt alone might be more than enough to give him his fill of grief.
It wouldn't be shocking if a Level 5 assassin from the [Fine Arts Society] showed up, or if the Major arrived with a squad of Black Warriors in a helicopter to rain bombardment upon him...
—The closer one came to the dawn's first light, the harder the preceding darkness was to endure.
Bai Zhou understood this truth.
It made him nervous, but not afraid.
...Some say life is an adventure without a map, and everyone is flying blind like a headless fly.
Bai Zhou felt that was true enough.
Yet, thankfully—
The youth had never walked this road of adventure alone.
Chapter 91