Just now, she learned two pieces of news, both very brief.

First, the space rift outside the Western Great Wall was closed, and the advance team of the Lord of the Black Tide was beaten back.

Second, the [Black Soldiers] were completely wiped out, and [Black Saint] Luo Yan died in battle.

Just recalling that haggard and thin face, Loulan felt a slight palpitation in his heart.

She recalled Luo Yan’s farewell before he went to the battle. On that reserved and slightly sick face, a soul released a strong desire to talk in silence.

But there is no possibility that two meteors that are destined to disappear will meet.

“I have the scissors. Do you need my help?”

“no need.”

Lou Lan turned around, picked up the scissors handed to her by the maid, and immediately picked up a strand of black hair with her hands:

“I will do it myself.”

She cut it one by one, and strands of inky black broke off between the blades and flowed from her palms to the floor, like the night gradually fading away outside the window.

After a long time, Loulan slowly stood up. Her long hair, which once reached the floor when she stood, now just covered her neck.

She was about to leave Fox Guard Pavilion.

“…”

While I was thinking, a cold wind blew in from the window, bringing a bone-chilling chill.

Loulan looked out the window. Unexpectedly, the sky was filled with flying frost, like a handful of salt sprinkled on black paper.

In midsummer, frost is everywhere in the sky.

Loulan watched in silence for a while, then turned around and walked towards the exit of the attic.

That night, there was a heavy snow in Qingcheng.

……

After many twists and turns, the incident in Yuanzhen finally came to an end.

That night, after midnight, there were still two days before the Lord of the Black Tide reached the Great Wall.

Through the data in the Lian Laboratory terminal, Carly quickly read the current location of the [Sky Eye] Facility Zero –

——Under the black fog to the east of Yuanzhen, a signal base station is stubbornly sending out signals that only Yuanzhen can receive.

That area was exactly where the [Extrader] Maha disappeared. Perlis instinctively felt that a tough battle was waiting for her there.

However, the next path is already very clear: reach Facility Zero, obtain the [Creator Engine], and repair the satellite named [Inverted Sword].

Then, it will be the final battle with the [Lord of the Black Tide].

“…”

That night, Perlis quietly slipped out of Shaya’s RV, tore open the crack, and traveled to the vast lake on the north side of Yuan Town.

Of course, she and Carly had reported it to each other and agreed to go back later and sleep together.

“…”

The breeze from the lakeside blew slowly, cool and making Perlis feel very comfortable. The lake turned pure black in the dark night. If it weren’t for the glass-like light of the Broken Moon coating the edge of the waves, this lake would have looked very much like the black lake Perlis had seen in her historical memories.

Eighteen years ago, under the shining of the same moon, a story ended.

Perlis wanted to see the story herself. She needed to know the causes and developments of everything so that she could identify the path to the ending.

“…”

Perlis turned on the factor shield and switched it to full coverage mode. Then, she slowly walked into the Black Lake.

Soon, this pure white figure was swallowed up by the boundless black lake and merged with the moonlight on the waves.

After completely sinking into the lake, Perlis activated her factor vision and swam in the lake like an agile fish.

The factor shield blocked the cold waves for her, but the lake water in front of her still made her feel chilly and unbearable, as if even her sight could convey a sense of coldness.

She suddenly remembered what Edward once said: “The coldness of the night can be seen.”

The lake was covered with rocks and there were almost no algae or fish. Perlis was extremely vigilant in her surroundings, because the mayor of Far Town had said that there were black water entities in the lake.

But Perlis felt nothing – the lake was deep, but there was no sign of life, let alone the smell of black water.

So, Perlis sank down along the lake. After an unknown amount of time, she felt a dark breath coming from below, accompanied by bursts of roars.

Then she saw the ruins buried at the bottom of the lake – those were the remains of the front-line base, most of which had been rusted beyond recognition, and their original functions could only be identified by their shapes.

At this moment, Perlis’s senses told her that what she was looking for was in the center of the ruins.

“…”

Perlis checked the number of factors stored in the bracelet, and then swam slowly over. She passed through the broken ruins, and soon, a dark spot appeared in her field of vision.

——It was a black lake.

What Ivar said was true. The black lake was located at the very bottom of the entire lake. The calm darkness seemed to be suppressed by the lake water, forming a neat layer.

It was that voice in the black lake… that lured Herames von Volantia.

There had been something living there, and Perlis’s instinct told her that that thing was the root of everything.

At this time, a whisper came from beneath the space, accompanied by a strange echo:

“…I can grant your wish…”

Looking at the calm darkness, Perlis closed her vision and immersed herself in the darkness at the bottom of the lake.

She closed her eyes, stretched out her hand, and felt the red power flowing through her body.

Little by little, pheromones flowed out from the Black Lake, forming one picture after another under the guidance of Perlis.

Those images intertwine and overlap, once again weaving out that story from the past.

…END…

Interlude) Human Beings

“…I can grant your wish…”

The whisper pierced through the darkness like a stone thrown into a lake, creating dark ripples.

The boundless black space thus has layers, with uneven boundaries dividing the space into grid-like areas.

Hermes is that stone.

He fell in the darkness and saw his past being cut into countless layers, and then reassembled in the shock of space.

In the endless darkness, he saw his face being cut apart.

——It was an elegant face with silver eyes tinged with darkness.

“…I can grant your wish…”

“Do not!!!”

Hermes roared and opened his eyes, suddenly finding himself standing next to the Black Lake.

Cold sweat flowed down his cheeks and dripped into his neck, causing waves of chills.

He lowered his head and found that one of his feet was dangling in the air and was about to step into the black lake.

“…!”

Hermes took two steps back as if he had seen a ghost, fell to the ground, and gasped madly.

He turned his head and looked at the door of the Black Lake blockade facility – the door was tightly sealed and there was no sign of it having been opened.

This is the twelfth time this has happened in the past six months.

Every night, Hermes fell asleep with the whispers lingering in his ears, like a stone thrown into a lake.

Sometimes, when he woke up, he would find himself standing beside the Black Lake, staring blankly at the water.

He had no memory of this at all, and to be honest, he even deliberately avoided going near the Black Lake during the day just to stay away from the sound that made him feel uneasy.

He tried countless ways to prevent himself from getting close to that area – locking the door, handcuffing one of his hands to the bed before sleeping, and even throwing away his key card. In the end, he even went to the point of “completely blocking Black Lake and stopping all related research.”

But no matter what, he will appear next to the Black Lake after waking up.

The ghost that murmured from the Black Lake seemed to possess some kind of super-causal power, which made Hermes unable to control his own thoughts. Any resistance was meaningless in the face of that power.

“…”

Hermes looked at the black lake in front of him, his heart gradually calmed down and he was no longer so panicked.

After this happened a dozen times, he didn’t seem to make as much of a fuss as he did the first time.

Hermes wiped the sweat off his head, slowly stood up, picked up the intercom and calmly ordered:

“I…forgot to bring my key card. Please help me open the door when I come to the lockdown facility.”

After he finished speaking, he leaned against the door, looked up at the ceiling, and let the back of his head, soaked with cold sweat, press against the cold wall.

The face I saw in the Black Lake…the one with dark eyes and an elegant smile, seemed very powerful.

Somehow, Hermes knew that guy was a powerful warrior, or rather…that “he” was a powerful warrior.

“Do I really want to be a warrior so badly?” he often asked himself.

The answer he got was that his heart would not deceive him.

And that whisper had been tempting him to enter the Black Lake so that he could become that warrior, become what he wanted to be.

Maybe this isn’t a bad idea? Hermes thought so, but immediately denied his idea in horror.

No… The old man from the Hafrigad tribe said that what is in the Black Lake is nothing but tempting echoes, ghosts from the past. Any price it offers is nothing but the accumulation of the wishes of the creatures it devours, and has no practical significance.

But, if that’s the case…why do I see myself like that?

Those Hafgard only gave ambiguous answers. Is it possible that they were actually deceiving us?

Hermes immediately decided to go talk to the woman named Halilali tomorrow morning. Although he did not trust her, at least he could get an answer.

However, as soon as this thought came to mind, Hermes denied himself.

——Now is no time for small talk.

A few days ago, with the help of the Hafrigad tribe, the Qilang people built an upgraded module for the [Sky Eye] system, allowing them to have a field of vision that covers most areas outside the Great Wall.

The next few days will be the most critical time: the Qilang people will complete the assembly of the [Inverted Sword] space-based satellite.

Once that great project is completed, the Lord of the Black Tide will have no way to hide.

Once the location of the [Lord of the Black Tide] is confirmed, the general offensive against him will begin. Before that, there is still a lot of preparation work to be done.

Hermes rubbed his forehead and remembered the application he wrote during the day – he believed that the Federation needed to send more airships to complete the battle at a relatively low cost.

He needed to convince Laplace… Yeah, his father was always hard to convince.

While thinking, Hermes suddenly had an idea:

Should I talk to my father about this again…?

But soon, he rejected this idea again:

His father wouldn’t care.

In fact, Hermes had talked to Laplace many times and also euphemistically mentioned the phenomenon of hallucinations caused by the Black Lake.

However, he did not point out in that report who saw the hallucination, in order to test Laplace’s attitude.

Laplace’s attitude was clear: kick that person out of the front-line base and take him to the rear for treatment.

Hermes didn’t like his current position, but he didn’t want to lose the opportunity to stay on the front line.

Even just watching those war machines firing, he could feel a certain excitement in his genes.

That was what he longed to do.

“…”

At this moment, the door of the blockade facility opened and the person on duty walked in – it was Aleph Stro.

“Wow, Commander, why are you here to rest in the middle of the night?” Aleph looked at Hermes in disbelief, “No… How did you get in without a key?”

“Because I am daydreaming.” Hermes murmured.