The archive was a compact, small-scale library.
All the books inside were protected by specially made glass display cases. “Since you, Mr. Yang, have as many as eleven recorded Blazing Radiance, you are entitled to read the contents preserved in the current area of this era using those eleven entries.“
The regional affairs liaison, Lion Angulo, led Yang Zicang to two large bookshelves on the north side.
“The first shelf before us contains the revisions made by the people of the previous Track of Fate regarding this place. Since you have already generated Group Radiance Flash or Chorma Radiance, you also have the authority to read them using the Blazing Radiance entries in hand. “
Having said that, the man before him looked toward a larger bookcase inside and added, “However, the catalog’s range of dates cannot exceed the ‘Tomorrow’ recorded in your entries—that is, May 3rd.“
Yang Zicang carefully examined the writing on the spines; it was more precise than the descriptions found in the Lost Illusion Company.
“Did the people from the previous Track of Fate manage to continue the age of this era of ‘Continent Era’?“
The regional affairs liaison, Angulo, paused for a moment, then lifted his gaze:
“It so happens that this matter pertains to the secret responses chosen by the Ember Radiants of the last era. Therefore, I cannot simply tell you outright——unless you expend a catalog entry of Blazing Radiance right now.“
“Additionally, ” Angulo pointed in another direction, “that area contains general intelligence about the next Epoch Lu. If you wish to read it, it costs three Radiance items per share. But it’s only some introductory information. “
Yang Zicang’s attention, originally focused on the bookshelf before him, involuntarily drifted over, and a sense of hesitation rose in his heart.
-｛Distributor February, called Di’an, is watching my current life experiences.｝
“What’s your plan, Cuckoo? “
“I… ” Yang Zicang suddenly felt a chill, a sense of alarm, and looked towards his side.
Shaking his head left and right, he found the bird poking its sinister little head out from beside his collar:
“What… are… you… going… to… do… answer me! “
Under Lion Angulo’s astonished gaze, Yang Zicang swiped his hand through the air in a swift grab at it.
With a snap, Yang Zicang slapped his own neck, but the little bird had already nimbly circled above his head with a business card in its beak, then swooped down to land on the back of a nearby chair.
“I want to see the stuff over there, ” said Cuckoo, its beak pointing towards the bookshelf containing information on the next Epoch Lu.
“You… when did you… ” Yang Zicang was now drenched in cold sweat. If this creature caught him off guard, the consequences would be unthinkable.
“What kind of bird is that, Hero? Isn’t it your pet? “
Little Cuckoo suddenly hopped up, “You’re the pet, human! You’re the pet of this house! But you’ve got good drinks here, I’ve seen them, heh heh… heh heh heh…“
For a moment, Yang Zicang felt both aggrieved and deeply grave. What should he do now?
-｛Distributor April·Odyssey watches my current life experience with a terrified gaze.｝
-｛Distributor Odysseus gave me a “bad review.“｝
-｛Distributor Odysseus revised his evaluation and gave me a “neutral review.“｝
“What are you after? That person’s planning to come over, right!“
“Oh, my foolish Buchun human, did you think Cuckoo could walk in here without taking an oath? Truly a wingless creature with a brain bigger than mine but far less wisdom!“
With a flick of its beak, Little Bird tossed aside the business card. “You’re my defeated opponent anyway, and on top of that, you tricked me into signing a covenant. Get over here, open that cabinet, and show Cuckoo where to have fun in the next Epoch Land.“
Yang Zicang inexplicably breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He took a step back and whispered to the Regional Affairs Liaison: “That thing in its beak has sealed up a reluctant Defender.“
Lion Angulo was startled stiff by those words, instantly pressing a button on the communicator at his waist.
“What have you done!“
“Heh heh, take a guess at what I’ve done.” Yang Zicang sneered coldly, glaring at it.
A dense rush of footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, and waves of oppressive pressure that made one feel heavy in the chest permeated the surrounding air.
The metal bird, as lifelike as the real thing, instantly turned pale with terror. It shot forward with a whoosh, and the space around the entire chair was quickly enveloped by a thick surge of chaotic energy. In an instant, this aurora flared up throughout the room in varying sizes—the tables, chairs, stools, the service counter and bulletin board, down to the potted plants and vases in the corners—all gleaming with that chaotic radiance.
They rapidly expanded under intense, shifting pressure, as if trying to capture that swiftly darting object in the air.
“Damn you, Yang Buchen! ” The Cuckoo jerked its head sideways, stuffing its business card under a wing, then transformed into a flickering distortion of air and vanished.
“It’s gone! ” Lion Angulo scanned the air, searching. Thud-thud—a few footsteps came running in from the door. A group of people looked around the room for a moment, and one of them, dressed as a security captain, said, “We’ll check at the Sub-Etheric Force Field to see if it shows up. You folks… “
His gaze landed on Yang Zicang. “Hmph, I hope you can leave here quickly. My people will stay and wait for you to come out. ” He glanced at his watch, then looked up again and said, “Best if you’re out in no more than a quarter of an hour. We’re about to commence a full lockdown search of this area. “
Yang Zicang sighed and nodded.
Yang Zicang glanced at the bookshelf with the iron plaque marked “Ring-Sundial Era ” and pointed to the cabinet containing records of the previous evolution of the Track of Fate.
“Let’s first see how everyone dealt with this world’s doomsday crisis last time. We’ll look at that other cabinet next time. “
Lion Angulo used a key to unlock the cabinet door and retrieved two documents from it. “Of these two, the first is a countermeasure proposed by a few Radiance Seekers in the mid-to-late period of the last Wood Weave Calendar, and the second is the result of that plan. “
“According to the records in a Holy Sword’s memoirs, it seems everyone died in the disaster. “
“Yes. “
Yang Zicang took the two volumes:The Initiation of the Pangaea Moonlight PlanandThe Complete Record of the Pangaea Moonlight Plan.
His pupils flickered slightly, as if he had thought of something, yet he wasn’t too sure.
“A disaster that killed everyone… “
Yang Zicang’s hand touched the cover ofThe Complete Record of the Pangaea Moonlight Plan. He paused for a few breaths, then opened it. After skimming through it hastily, his pupils abruptly contracted.
“All humans became… living dead… “
Under the startled gazes of the few people around who were vigilantly scanning the surroundings, Yang Lizi looked up at the liaison beside him with a blend of anger and sorrow.
“This is their response… their plan? “
The district affairs liaison’s face was filled with helpless melancholy. “They had no better option, but they did gain a piece of information classified as ‘Ancient Gold’. “
Yang Zicang felt as if something had struck him square in the chest.
The quarter-hour passed quickly. Yang Zicang, having re-borrowed from real history the account of that continent’s end, saw what the sage St. Sjonuihimin had witnessed. Besides the sight of wider regions—cities, factories, trenches, and mountains—all covered by indescribable steel vines that devoured lives one by one, there was little else except a record of a very few people, protected by bloodline powers, escaping by ship to the sea.
Back in the small courtyard, the flicker of hope that had risen in Yang Zicang’s heart was dwindling to bleakness.
An entire era’s worth of the land’s most brilliant minds had gathered together, yet they too could find no better way to prolong the world. Instead, they resorted to something akin to a biochemical virus that made the world moon-like, just to let so-called life eke out a continued, breathless existence. Even that, however, fell short of the true Moon People in the real Moon Realm.
“Mr. Bucheng, have you seen Miss Lianna? “
Thorne stumbled out of the house in a fluster.
“No, what’s wrong? “
“She’s gone. “
In an instant, Yang Zicang’s mind cast aside all thoughts of the Pan-Continental Moonlight Plan or the future of Mutao Continent. He strode into the living room and reached the door of that small room. Leonardo was reading a letter inside; seeing Yang Zicang approach, he handed it over.
— Uncle Thornton, and Hero, by the time you read this letter, I should already be on my way to a new place I need to go… Don’t worry about me—I can take care of myself now. I believe that one day in the future, we will meet again. When that time comes, I’ll have earned as much as the Hero did…
The letter stopped there, but Yang Zicang could vaguely guess what might have happened.
Indeed, such a clever girl, who had learned on her own since childhood a language and knowledge that only she understood, stored them entirely in her mind, without anyone to share or discuss them with, and carried them into the future. How could someone like her, after facing a series of abnormal events, not become suspicious of the world?
Yang Zicang folded the paper neatly.
“It’s all right, Mr. Thornton. I believe Miss Luna will do what her new identity requires of her. “
……
Some leave, some arrive, and some come only to go again—this was a sentence Yang Zicang had read in the magazine he flipped through over the past two days.
He had a hunch that this line in the article might be a code for someone, but he just glanced at it before turning the page.
Noon arrived. After getting up and changing out of his herbal bath clothes, Yang Zicang followed the nurse who had been applying medicine to him these past two days, heading to the medical hall next door.
“Haha, madam, your eye for detail is as sharp as ever. “
“Not entirely. I’m just naturally drawn to such exquisite craftsmanship. “
Yang Zicang’s eyes swept over, and that familiar face, sensing his gaze, turned her beautiful eyes and smiled at him. Slightly surprised, she nodded before following another pointed-eared gray-haired woman in her fifties as they left.
It was Yao Xiaoqin. Yang Zicang’s steps didn’t falter in the slightest as he followed the nurse into the clinic.
“Mr. Yang, your skin is already much better than it was at the very beginning. I believe that in a few more days, we can rely entirely on topical medication for the follow-up treatment. “
“Thank you for your hard work. “
Yang Zicang, while filling out a form, asked casually, “Do those two just now also live here? “
Generally, people who come here to lease space and conduct business rarely enter the residential quarters here.
“Neither of those two ladies is of simple background. I suggest you, Mr. Yang, don’t waste your time on them. Some people have suffered dearly before because of it. “
Yang Zicang nodded to show he understood.
He could basically confirm that Yao Xiaoqin had recognized him.
Still in that same room, after finishing his herbal bath, Yang Zicang dressed and had just reached the door when he sensed someone standing quietly outside, waiting for him.
His now strong and agile hand quickly turned the doorknob. The moment he opened it a crack, a lithe figure swiftly squeezed inside. Yao Xiaoqin fixed a calm gaze upwards, staring at the heavily burned man with cold eyes.
“How did you get hurt like this? “
“It’s already a lot better. And you know what, I actually prefer this face. “
Yao Xiaoqin fell silent for a moment, then glanced at her own bag.
｛I activate Silent Night.｝
In Yang Zicang’s perception, there was an intricate recording device hidden in the lower compartment of the bag, with a slender tape reel precisely stabilized within.
However, the entire person opposite him was isolated by the power of the Leased Land, a reminder that illegal conflict was not permitted here—otherwise, the price would be hefty.
“Why haven’t you come to see me for so long? ” Yang Zicang thought for a moment, then switched to the tone of an angry boyfriend asking his girlfriend.
“I don’t think our relationship is good for us anymore. ” Yao Xiaoqin said, glancing at the bag from the corner of her eye, “When will you be heading west? “
After asking this, she opened her mouth, mouthing the word “immediately. “
“Hmm… It shouldn’t be too slow; there isn’t much time left. Besides, I’ve already come to know some secrets of this continent. On the way to the West Coast, I should encounter something that might give birth to a new radiance. “
“What’s that? Can I have a share of it? “
“Heh. “
Faced with this answer, the woman couldn’t tell if the man meant it intentionally or was just putting on an act.
“Can… can I still go back there? ” The woman looked up at him, her brows knit tightly, then raised her hand to reveal a brass key, touching it to Yang Zicang’s hand.
Feeling no feedback at all, Yang Zicang’s heart suddenly dropped.
His gaze grew deep as he wrapped his arm around the woman’s waist, his palm already gripping a key.
｛I prepared to tip the locksmith for the COSTELLA HOTEL opening device.｝
But in that instant, Yang Zicang’s heart suddenly tightened, and he stopped his move.
He studied Yao Xiaoqin’s face carefully, examining the strands of her hair, and even every detail of her ears.
“Can you dance? “
“Me? ” Yao Xiaoqin’s brows knitted together. “You… no longer trust me at all? “
Yang Zicang was momentarily speechless.
She let go of Yang Zicang’s hand, naturally stepped back two paces, gave a slight bow, and then lifted her head with a feigned smile, asking, “What dance would the President like to see me perform?“
“Oh, there you are, Sunan.” Suddenly, a lady’s voice came from the distant corridor, followed by the sight of two men rounding the corner and walking over.
Yao Xiaoqin glanced at Yang Zicang, lowered her brow, and said, “Sunan is actually my real name. I’ll dance for you another time. If there are ship tickets…“
Before she could finish, the group had already arrived before them, the two men observing proper etiquette.
“So this must be the distinguished hero! What a pleasure! I never imagined we could meet such a great figure here. Haha.” The group greeted him.
Yang Zicang smiled, then looked at the people who were preparing to leave with the woman, and said, “Please, wait a moment, everyone. I’d like to have a few more words with my club member.“
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