Shrouded Seascape

Seeing the crimson mist billowing out from the truck, Anna instantly grew tense. She couldn't let anything happen to the Anomaly that she had worked so hard to obtain.

She ordered Olivia to walk into the crimson mist and open the truck. The young woman gripped the handles tightly and pulled hard. The crimson mist sprayed all over her, making her cough nonstop.

The crimson mist quickly dissipated.

Anna looked closely and saw that a crack had actually appeared in the middle of the huge brass mirror that she had gone to great lengths to obtain. The crimson mist was seeping out from the crack.

Did it crack because of that reflection? Anna mused with her brows tightly furrowed. The mirror was damaged, but it was still useful. She just had to repair it, and it could then be used to alter Gao Zhiming's memories.

As the crimson mist seeped out from the crack, the bleak and grayish void displayed on the mirror disappeared slowly, becoming clearer and clearer as time ticked by.

However, this was a bad sign. As the mirror became clearer and clearer, small cracks rapidly spread across the mirror. Before Anna could do anything, a huge triangular chunk of the mirror fell off, and a wisp of Origin Essence wrapped in a black, fibrous matter appeared before Anna.

This is bad! The mirror is going to break at this rate! Anna exclaimed inwardly. Then, after a brief moment of pondering, she took out a block of sea salt and drew the fusion ritual's array inside the truck's cargo hold.

After quickly pondering for a moment, Anna swiftly took out a block of sea salt and rapidly drew an absorption array for anomalies in the cargo hold.

The Anomaly was damaged, so Anna would have to find another container for it.

Even though she had no idea what would happen if a damaged Anomaly was absorbed by a human being, she had no choice but to take a leap of faith. She had gone to great lengths to obtain the mirror; she couldn't just casually toss it away, could she?

"Olivia! Come here!" Anna roared, and her stern voice made the freckled young woman tremble. She bit her lower lip before walking over to Anna.

Anna reached toward the mirror with both hands and grabbed the pitch-black Origin Essence. Then, with one hard yank, the mirror shattered, leaving only the mirror's frame behind.

Interestingly, the previously golden frame rapidly dulled in color as soon as the Origin Essence was extracted from it.

Anna slashed out, and a small cut was swiftly made in Olivia's waist, exposing her pancreas.

The dissipating black mist was then shoved inside Olivia, eliciting a violent and pained tremor from the freckled young woman.

Having just received a new host, the Origin Essence converged and burrowed into Olivia.

Anna then retreated and cast a conflicted gaze at Olivia writhing in agony on the floor. As the seconds ticked by, the sea salt on the ground slowly became pitch-black.

The surroundings shifted rapidly from illusory to real as those tiny fairies that were supposed to be in the mirror appeared all over the cargo hold. However, they disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

The surroundings were starting to feel unreal.

Just then, more than ten irises crowded in Anna's eye sockets, and she saw that Olivia's figure was shrouded in extreme darkness, but Anna had no idea what the sight meant.

Eventually, the surreal scene faded away.

Olivia was still alive, so Anna was confident that the fusion ritual had to have succeeded.

Olivia crawled up with great difficulty and opened her eyes. Anna and the others saw that her bright eyes now seemed to be filled with mercury, transforming into something similar to a mirror.

Olivia took a moment to look around with those bizarre eyes when her expression turned to one of terror as she exclaimed, "I... I can't see!!"

"I can't see! I can't see! I can't see!" Olivia shouted frantically, but then she realized something and muttered, "Wait, I can still see; my vision has just changed drastically."

"What do you mean? Anyway, feel the power inside you. Once you can feel it, try it on Jackal. I want to know whether you've obtained the ability to alter memories," Anna remarked.

Olivia frowned. Kneading her forehead using the three fingers on her left hand, she cast a nervous look at Jackal. Moments later, Jackal's figure was reflected in her silver eyes.

Just then, she looked up, capturing Anna's figure in her silver eyes.

***

Somewhere in the endless dark expanse of the Subterranean Sea, Lily was sitting on a small chair intended for a child's use. She was a guest of 134's tea party, and of course, she wasn't the only guest.

There was a little teddy bear and a bald old man doll sporting a white beard. The word "Tobba" was written on the chest of the bald old man doll. Of course, it was written in the script of the Subterranean Sea.

Holding a toy teacup in both hands, Lily's gaze shifted to the window beside her.

The scenery outside the window was populated by buildings made from metal scraps. The scenery was shifting as well, as the entire island was rotating clockwise at a steady pace.

Lily had been in Sottom for quite some time now in order to learn about how to become the Light God from 134. Unfortunately, the little girl with razor-sharp teeth had been refusing to tell her despite her pleas.

The 134 from that plane would have told her for Charles' sake, but the 134 of this plane had just met Lily for the first time. She was truly unfamiliar with the young woman whose hair was emitting a slight glow.

Thus, the two sides ended up fighting, and the fight got so intense that the navy of Whereto had to intervene.

However, Lily's heart softened upon seeing the stern and determined faces of the soldiers. She didn't want to kill them, as every life lost meant one broken family.

In the end, Lily was forced to think another way. The forceful method wasn't working, after all. Fortunately, 134 was even more naive than Lily had imagined. In fact, Lily felt that 134 was even more naive than her past self.

After just a few conversations, Lily quickly became 134's friend. Of course, 134 was aware of Lily's goals, but she couldn't care less. The only thing she cared about was that another girl was attending her tea party.

Lily knew that her desperate pleas were useless. With that in mind, Lily resolved to find the reason why 134 didn't want to tell her anything, and then, she would address that reason.

Lily looked around the cozy pink bedroom, and her gaze finally settled on Tobba.

"Mithila, you really can't bear to part with Tobba, can you?" Lily asked, uttering 134's real name.

134 lifted the toy kettle with both hands and poured Tobba a cup of tea without replying.

"How about this? Tell me where the Light God was made, and I'll help you resurrect Tobba."

134's lips curved into a contemptuous smile that revealed her terrifying and razor-sharp teeth as well. "You really are something. Resurrection? Go ahead and resurrect someone for me right now."

"No, I'm not saying that I can do that right now." Lily shook her head. "But I can do it once I've become the Light God. The Light God can resurrect someone."

134's red pupils constricted, and her gaze shifted to the doll beside her.

Her long eyelashes batted a few times before she shook her head vigorously and replied, "Who do you think I am? A little kid? Do you really believe that I'll fall for that nonsense?

"If you really want to know, then stay here and play with me for a few more years. I might just tell you what you want to know one day if I'm in a good mood."