Chapter 242

Chapter 242: Annihilation and History

Yu Sheng stood at the edge of the shattered floating island, staring at the endless Chaos Void and the magnificent stream of light spanning the darkness, as if lost in thought.

Bai Li Qing’s voice came from behind him: “What are you thinking about?”

He answered without hiding it, his tone tinged with feeling: “Random things, mainly about Anka Aila. I know it sounds odd, but I never really had a sense of what a Dark Angel is. Anka Aila is the first Dark Angel I’ve ever talked to, and the things in its memory are hard to shake.”

Footsteps approached as Bai Li Qing came to stand beside him, asking: “What do you mean exactly? The disaster that hit its homeland, or the extinction of the civilization it represented?”

He scratched his hair and said: “Both, I guess. That dead biosphere is sad enough, but the disaster in Anka Aila’s memory is even more shocking. Maybe it’s because I directly experienced the ‘memory’ that I feel like I saw it with my own eyes.”

Bai Li Qing pressed her lips together, looking like she had something to say but held it back.

Yu Sheng noticed the expression; it wasn’t the first time. When he had mentioned certain details from Anka Aila’s memories earlier, the Director’s reactions had been hard to ignore. He frowned and asked: “Do you know something I don’t?”

Instead of answering, Bai Li Qing asked a question of her own: “What was that disaster like, exactly, in Anka Aila’s memory?”

He thought for a moment, then spoke plainly: “There are some abstract impressions that are hard to put into words. From the images, it looked like something split the whole universe. Maybe that sounds exaggerated? But a red Rift did appear between the stars. All the celestial bodies were cracking apart or catching fire. The Exiled Arks were caught by a red light. You couldn’t see what was happening, and they just dissolved into that light, one by one.”

He stopped there. Even recalling it made his head spin a little. After a strange silence, Bai Li Qing finally said in a low voice: “It’s not exaggerated.”

Yu Sheng froze for two seconds before he realized what she was saying, then blurted: “Huh?!”

He hurried to add: “What do you mean? You know what that thing is? I thought everything about Dark Angels was a mystery.”

Bai Li Qing spoke calmly: “Dark Angels are a mystery to us, but the red light and the universe-tearing scene are not. When you first mentioned it I wasn’t sure, but now I’m fairly certain. The thing in Anka Aila’s memory also appeared in our world. More strictly speaking, it appeared before this world was born.”

Yu Sheng stood there as if time stopped, his mind roaring. After a long moment, he blinked and caught up to what she meant, saying: “You’re saying that before this world was born, that Rift and red light showed up here? Wait, that means…”

She looked up at him with calm gravity and said: “This world was destroyed.”

“What?!”

“This isn’t much of a secret, but only a few people know, and even fewer specialize in this Domain,” Bai Li Qing said slowly, as if speaking of a far-off legend. “Literally, the world we live in was once destroyed. Everything you see now was born after the second singularity burst.

“In the old, obscure tales of the Bamosians, it was the greatest of the Ancient Holy Spirits who achieved this feat. The old Academies of Terra even record many legends of the old world. I’m not an expert in this, so my knowledge of the second singularity burst and the old world is limited. But I’m sure of one thing. What you described, what Anka Aila went through, is what the records call ‘Annihilation’.”

He opened his mouth, then drew a breath at last and said: “Hold on. That’s a lot. Let me sort this out.” [Rebuild the worldview, step by step.]

He tapped his temple and quickly arranged the pieces in his mind until they formed a single line of thought.

In the way he found easiest to understand, he said: “Okay, I get it. You mean our world was killed once by that thing called ‘Annihilation’, right? Then the Ancient Holy Spirits… you told me about them before. In my head they’re like gods. The greatest among them rebuilt the world after the end, and that’s how we have the Borderland and the whole universe beyond it, right? And now a bunch of Dark Angels keep invading this world, and more keep coming. The latest intel says at least one of them fell in because its home world also suffered Annihilation. That’s the flow, right?”

Bai Li Qing listened and then slowly nodded, saying: “I think that’s right.”

Yu Sheng pressed his fist to his forehead and kneaded it. [This is big. Really big.]

He asked, voice low: “So can we sum up the nonstop Dark Angel invasions from our world’s view as: Is that Annihilation still chasing us?”

The corner of Bai Li Qing’s eye twitched, but her face quickly steadied again.

She weighed her words and shook her head: “That’s the worst case, but it’s unlikely. From the guidance passed down by the Ancient Holy Spirits, the Annihilation did end. Even the fall of the old world was a long time ago. Anka Aila’s memory backs this up: it wandered for a very long time, until the red light that swallowed all the other arks disappeared from its sensors. So I don’t think we need to fear Annihilation returning.”

Yu Sheng said in a low voice: “But more and more Dark Angels are invading this world. We used to say they were aggressive, but now I feel like something is driving them toward us, and that something is getting closer.”

Bai Li Qing’s expression grew obviously heavy. It was the most change Yu Sheng had ever seen on her always-stoic face.

After a while, he suddenly asked: “These Ancient Holy Spirits you mentioned, have they always stayed in touch with the mortal world? It sounds like they send guidance. Can we contact them and ask what’s going on?”

She shook her head and said: “It’s not easy. Long ago, contact was fairly frequent. But after the second singularity burst and the universe grew stable, contact kept decreasing. The Bamosians say the Ancient Holy Spirits have been shifting their activity to the observable universe’s The End Web. They have a greater mission there. They patrol the Border of the Stellar Veil to keep the real universe stable.

“Only occasionally does one of them return, to have limited talks with a chosen person. Even that last happened more than ten years ago.”

Frowning as he digested this, Yu Sheng asked: “This ‘Bamosian’ people you keep mentioning, what exactly do they do? Are they close with the Ancient Holy Spirits?”

She explained patiently: “They are mortals too, just an older race, and their whole people love digging into history and searching for truth. So they know many ancient secrets. They are famous for their Prophets. The Bamosians produce many Prophets, said to sense where events are headed, even foresee the near future and glimpse the essence of things. Their Supreme Leader is the greatest and oldest of all Prophets. As for being close to the Ancient Holy Spirits, they’re much like other races. They just know more.”

“Oh.” Yu Sheng nodded, still frowning, and asked: “So the last contact was more than ten years ago? When Dark Angels invade, they don’t show up?”

Bai Li Qing did not speak, only spread her hands.

Yu Sheng let it drop.

Thoughts turned in his chest. The beings called Ancient Holy Spirits were real. Since they were real and could talk with mortals, their actions had to be rational, with reasons. Dark Angels were invading reality, yet the Ancient Holy Spirits did not return to help. There had to be a reason. [Either they don’t really care about the mortal world, or the business at the Border of the Stellar Veil is even more urgent than Angels invading here.] [Bad news, and worse news.]

He shook his head. Bai Li Qing had surely thought of the same things, and many like her had too.

He sighed and said: “Life still has to go on.”

She answered with a faint smile at her eye: “Yes, life still has to go on.”

Just then a pleasant phone tone rang, cutting her motion short.

Bai Li Qing glanced at the screen, answered, and lifted the phone to her ear.

Yu Sheng blinked, not sure if he was imagining it. After two lines from the caller, he thought Bai Li Qing’s face showed the look of someone thinking: life can’t go on after all.