Outside the tower, on a flight.
The seven-hundred-year silent journey had long made the Evil Fallen forget the final destination and starting point of this trip.
They sat quietly in their respective cabins, different from outsiders; here, if an explosion occurred, they would resurrect in the sa position they had been in originally.
Over seven hundred years, without Reincarnation, these Evil Fallen would have beco exceptionally powerful, but under its influence, all the growth they should have experienced was absorbed by Reincarnation.
The mummy stood guard over the coffin quietly, as it had for the past seven hundred years. As the owner of Reincarnation with a distortion level of only seven, it would not match a Guardian’s level anywhere outside the flight, neither in purple zones nor red zones.
But within this flight, it was the undisputed king.
Every three minutes, the flight’s announcent about encountering turbulence would still ring out, becoming the noisiest sound for the past seven hundred years.
The belly-slitting woman suddenly opened her eyes, worry and confusion in her gaze.
The dog-headed Evil Fallen beside her looked at her affectionately, as it had for the past seven hundred years.
She suddenly had the urge to speak:
"I won’t fall in love with you. In a world where life lasts only six minutes, love brings no sweetness. Why bother?"
The dog-headed man was that "Bootlicker" from the flight’s "Peaceful Years" trio, who had always been deeply in love with the belly-slitting woman Evil Fallen.
He once had a decent job and was considered quite a catch compared to many n. Although whether in terms of inco, ability, intellect, status, or appearance, he fell short of Yan Zhao.
Back then, Yan Zhao didn’t have Sequence 25—The Integrator, but his innate womanizer charm always made many won throw themselves at him like moths to a fla.
This included the belly-slitting woman, whose real na was Jian Qiu.
The dog-headed Evil Fallen was originally nad Tian Jing, and he let out a low growl from his throat, completely unfazed by Jian Qiu’s rejection. After all, it was only natural for her to reject .
But her sudden desire to speak—was she upset? What could I do to make her happy? These were the concerns for Tian Jing.
After becoming an Evil Fallen, so parts of Tian Jing beca purer.
If there had been any happiness in the past seven hundred years, it was when those two humans, one tall and one short, showed up half a year ago.
At that ti, to make the tall one leave the flight, Jian Qiu gave herself an order.
To be able to walk through fire and water for the goddess—what luck!
Jian Qiu could understand Tian Jing’s speech, but she found this man sowhat pathological. Clearly, she had made it clear that she didn’t fancy him, yet he was increasingly eager and attentive.
Sohow, without even knowing when, a person liking another yet being unrequited, then lowering their stature to like that other person even more, had been labeled as Bootlicker behavior.
Jian Qiu thought this wasn’t an accurate description, yet she just couldn’t fall in love with soone who was unconditionally kind to her. She truly hoped soone would break into the flight and rescue her.
Like that soone who stord into the flight to save the little girl from the Yan Family. And this monster beside her, who had accompanied her for seven hundred years, neither man nor dog, definitely had such awareness.
But people always take for granted things that co too easily.
At this mont, however, she felt the urge to speak because she felt so pain.
At the location of her heart, that empty space, there was a faint yet real pain.
Despite lacking that heart, despite having given her heart to Bai Wu, she still felt an indescribable ache.
Tian Jing longed to hold Jian Qiu’s hand, but he dared not do so. He felt it would be too sacrilegious.
In fact, Jian Qiu had thought that if she hadn’t turned into an Evil Fallen, if Tian Jing hadn’t turned into an Evil Fallen, if Tian Jing wasn’t overly humble, perhaps there would have been a chance.
She suddenly thought of her offspring, that overly humble little girl. In that instant, Jian Qiu abruptly realized—was the pain in her empty chest because that little girl was suffering?
She wanted to say sothing, so regardless of the explosion that would happen in three minutes, she began to recount so past events:
"I’ve forgotten which generation of the Yan Family’s bloodline it is now. So of them are very pure and don’t seem like monsters from my bloodline at all, while others are very evil, as if inheriting Yan Zhao’s temperant."
Among the many won who liked Professor Yan, Jian Qiu was the best one. In Yan Zhao’s words: I like you, you have perfect genes.
The love-struck Jian Qiu thought it was a complint, but in reality, Yan Zhao simply wanted a breeding tool, and his words were his honest thoughts—
Of course, they had to have perfect genes; after all, if the Evil Fallen children, even experint subjects, were good looking, that would be better than the ugly ones.
For Yan Zhao, as soon as Jian Qiu beca pregnant, the two children in her womb were experint subjects, even though he was their father.
In the end, Jian Qiu was subjected to inhumane experints and beca an Evil Fallen after giving birth to two children.
"I’ve also hated them, but that heart could make feel them... watching them grow, watching them be just like humans, I couldn’t bring myself to hate them."
Jian Qiu’s voice was soft, but she knew Tian Jing would be listening intently.
"We’re trapped in Reincarnation, but it can’t cut off our connection to the outside world or our mories. The fact that I could establish so kind of connection with the children was soon known to Yan Zhao."
"He didn’t care, and it seed as if he was carrying out so experint on purpose or provoking . Whenever there was emotional deficiency or any other suspicious traces of Evil Fallen traits in our bloodline, he would ensure everyone isolated them..."
"Sotis it was a boy, sotis a girl, and whenever I wanted to use my heart to tell those children sothing, as soon as Yan Zhao found out, he would tornt them..."
"He would even erase their mories."
"He was warning , telling not to influence these children, I could only watch as their brothers and sisters... those with complete emotions, their lives getting better and better, but their hearts becoming worse and worse... while those with incomplete emotions were drowned in loneliness and despised by the family."
Tian Jing never knew about these things, it hung its head low, a look of loss on its face.
Goddess Jian Qiu didn’t mind, she just needed to vent so things in her heart, maybe today, that little girl in the High Tower is going through sothing extrely painful, so much so that she too subtly felt agony, in that place where the heart no longer existed.
There was always only one boy and one girl in the Yan Family.
Sotis the boy had incomplete emotions, sotis the girl did, and Yan Zhao would deliberately treat them differently, just like the tornt he inflicted on Jian Qiu.
Those with complete emotions always gained the favor of the family, always had access to the family’s real business.
Those with incomplete emotions... it was like they were outsiders related by blood.
Jian Qiu had once tried to comfort them, whether their emotions were complete or incomplete, but once Yan Zhao learned of this, he would severely punish the children.
He would even send them out of the tower for direct mory cleansing.
Over ti, Jian Qiu pitied these children and dared not show herself easily anymore. She could only silently watch from the distant Reincarnation the lives of those related by blood, outside of the cycle.
It is worth ntioning that Jian Qiu could only establish this kind of feeling with the youngest bloodline of the Yan family.
Once a new descendant of the Yan family was born, the connection with the previous generation of Yan family offspring would disappear.
Yan Zhao was no longer able to conceive, as if the curse had extended to him. He naturally could not find the woman but had many ways of taking revenge on Jian Qiu.
Torturing the bloodline was his thod of vengeance.
And Jian Qiu had no way to fight back. She harbored endless resentnt toward Yan Zhao, but those were her blood as well, causing her unimaginable heartache.
She knew Yan Zhao was capable of anything, aning she could only silently be an observer.
For seven hundred years, she had watched as these brothers and sisters, or sisters and brothers, slowly beca strangers to one another. Jian Qiu thought that this would be the torture and pain she would face forever in her long and endless remaining life.
Until a couple of decades ago, two changes occurred.
The first change was that Yan Zhao seed to be plotting sothing. For hundreds of years, although Yan Zhao had been warning Jian Qiu, stopping her from influencing the Yan family’s offspring, he at least allowed Jian Qiu the power of an "observer".
Until a few years ago, a child of the Yan family, Yan Zhishui... severed this connection.
Even though Jian Qiu had never influenced Yan Zhishui, he, for so reason... just suddenly severed the connection.
So, from that year on, there was only one person in Jian Qiu’s world.
This person was the cause of the second change—a girl with the most severe emotional deficiency.
This girl was more severely emotionally deficient than all others in the history of the Yan Family because she was completely unable to feel joy, making her perception of negative emotions unusually sensitive and easy.
To Yan Zhao, such a person was seen as a genetic failure, a defective product that couldn’t even be taken out of the tower.
So, under the "glorious tradition" of the Yan Family, the Family Heads inherited the knowledge of how to regard their daughters from generation to generation, and he quickly learned how to view his own daughter.
The little girl was thoroughly isolated, and because her emotional deficiency was so severe, she who could never feel joy beca a monster and an oddity in people’s eyes.
This little girl was Yan Jiu.
Even in Jian Qiu’s view, a child who couldn’t feel joy, growing up in such a twisted environnt, might indeed beco a real monster in the future.
Perhaps the Asylum was truly her destiny.
Yan Jiu indeed ended up in the Asylum, but as a witness to the little girl’s slow growth, from a child into a young lady... Jian Qiu realized she was wrong.
"I always thought she would beco a ntally twisted monster. Many monsters in the world are like that; they are different from those around them, and although they want to erase those differences, trying hard to integrate into this world, they are still abandoned by the world, eventually becoming monsters."
The explosion was approaching, but after seven hundred years, Jian Qiu and the countless Evil Fallen in the flight had long beco accustod to death.
Her voice was still tinged with pity as she shared the treasures within her heart:
"But she’s different... this child without joy doesn’t hate the world that loathes her, the world has never shown her kindness, yet she has always treated the world with gentleness."
"In the Asylum, there were many lunatics with strange traits, servants and slaves she had co into contact with in the Manor, her brother and father who disliked her from childhood, even the criminals who had kidnapped her—she never felt hate for any of them."
"I even thought her ability to hate was also incomplete, but one day I asked her, those people don’t like you, why do you still try to be good to them?
Her gaze was hollow, her eyes filled with panic as she said to , because I don’t want to beco more unpleasant...
It was then I knew that this girl wasn’t devoid of the emotion of hatred, but she always felt that... maybe if she behaved a little better... the world would respond to her kindness."
It was as if in a place full of sludge and decay, a single white flower had blood.
In the seven hundred years of the Yan Family, Jian Qiu had only seen such things twice.
But she also knew that these two of the Yan Family’s bloodline might be destined for tragic endings.
The explosion happened, and everything in the flight entered Reincarnation again.
When her consciousness erged from the searing pain, Jian Qiu seed to feel nothing, continuing to speak what she wanted to say.
Tian Jing was still accompanying her in silence.
"The half of my heart that remains is the only thing I possess, it is my most treasured belonging. You must be very curious as to why I would give that heart to an outsider..."
"Actually, I can’t say for sure either. That person’s acting wasn’t bad, and at that ti I was thinking, it would be quite touching if there were such a person willing to appear in Jiu’s life, to recklessly search for her when she disappeared."
"But I know... that person was full of lies... because there is no such person in Jiu’s life. If there really was, that poor girl so starved for love would definitely not have been able to resist ntioning him to ."
"But she couldn’t even make up soone to love her."
"I gave that heart to that person, and I don’t know what his feelings for Jiu are... I only hope that maybe there really is soone who can truly fall in love with her."
Tian Jing remained silent, its heart belonging only to its goddess Jian Qiu. However, the little girl ntioned by Jian Qiu also stirred so pity in it.
Jian Qiu clutched at her now hollow chest, enduring the pain as tears misted in her eyes:
"But now it seems I might have been wrong. She’s unhappy... She must be living in unhappiness, that’s why it hurts so much here..."
Always fearful that Yan Zhao would cut off her own connection to Yan Jiu... Jian Qiu never dared to talk too much with Jiu.
But deep down, she was fond of the little girl.
It’s just, after giving that half of her heart to Bai Wu, she never saw Yan Jiu again.
Jian Qiu once thought that in the prison of reincarnation, constantly watching descendants grow, twist, die... was tornt for her.
But now, she realized that not seeing any of it was the true torture.
...
...
High Tower, third level.
In everyone’s view, the third level was the most prosperous level of the entire High Tower, it was like a city within a tower.
Unlike the uncivilized first and second levels, nor as deserted as the fourth and fifth levels.
This city witnessed countless stories of joy and countless stories of sadness every day. It’s just that so places were neglected, while others were too bustling.
Just like how the Asylum was quiet and deserted, whereas the Mingyu Estate was brightly lit and festively decorated.
Other than when wives gathered, Ming Che rarely invited guests on such a large scale, especially mbers of the Investigation Corps.
Although he had a great admiration for Qingyu, now that he had beco a deputy legion commander, Ming Che had no chance to poach him.
Today, the Investigation Corps brought most of its elite, and the Garrison Corps did the sa.
After the last military exercise between the two Corps, the relationship between the Investigation Corps and the Garrison Corps had actually eased. But it was a slight thaw at best.
So, seeing the "happiness" characters posted all over the Manor, they were curious to know whose wedding had such great influence.
Especially since this person had enough clout to make the commander issue orders to the various unit leaders requiring them to co to the Mingyu Estate, why was there no news before about the wedding?
The elite of the High Tower gathered, and the scale was even greater than the military exercises—a multitude of experts filled the Mingyu Estate.
So also noticed that among these experts were many unfamiliar faces.
Their expressions showed no curiosity or the joy of attending a wedding; these people only appeared very calm.
Wu Wurou, Yin Shuang and Shang Xiaoyi, Wang Shi, and others were wandering around the Manor.
"Damn, I always knew that the third in command of the Garrison Corps was rich, liked to ss with other people’s wives, but I really didn’t expect him to be this rich, or to enjoy it to this extent. Isn’t this place ant for wife-swapping? What were they thinking, having a wedding here?"
Wurou was essentially expressing his admiration for the enormity of the Manor and the proprietor’s extravagant tastes. Of course, he himself wasn’t interested in the affairs of the Manor; in Wurou’s view, those n and won were all just "ordinary goods."
Yin Shuang said:
"Do you guys really not know who’s getting married?"
"No clue... It feels like so big shot’s wedding, look!" Xiaoyi pointed towards a corner of the hall.
Lin Wurou and Yin Shuang looked over and imdiately furrowed their brows:
"Why are they here too?"
Liu Hu, Xie Yingjie, Wang Su, Pang Li, Zheng Yue. Five out of the six people from the surveillance group had shown up.
These individuals were among the strongest in the High Tower, and Wu Wurou, Yin Shuang and others had been under their surveillance during their ti outside the tower, acutely feeling the gap between them and these fifth-level experts.
Yet through surviving nurous life-and-death battles, Wu Wurou and the others improved rapidly. Still, compared to these monstrous mbers of the surveillance group, they still witnessed a disparity.
"How co their captain isn’t here? The one who is even better-looking than you?" Wang Shi curiously asked Lin Wurou.
Wurou gave Wang Shi a disdainful glance:
"Hmph, I won’t bother reasoning with a blind, ugly person like you."
Yin Shuang had a feeling that sothing was off. Scanning the crowd, she felt that most of the guests didn’t know who the bride and groom were.
Listening carefully, the discussions all centered around speculations about the newlyweds.
The only person who likely knew the truth was Ming Che, but Ming Che was nowhere to be seen.
Yin Shuang glanced at the location where the captains usually sat, noticing that the captains of the various squads were present, but she could not spot the captains of Squad Seven.
Both Bai Wu and Wu Jiu were absent.
Yin Shuang also noticed sothing amiss about the wedding proceedings—the guests had already begun to take their seats, yet the bride and groom were conspicuously absent.
The wedding ceremonies of the High Tower people did not have many ancient processes, especially if it was a wedding for a leader of the Legion, it usually just involved exchanging rings under the blessings of everyone present.
So it struck Yin Shuang suddenly, could this be the Commanding Officer’s wedding?
Once this thought crossed her mind, she beca even more convinced that it was the case; despite the friction between the two Legions, rumors persisted of an extraordinary relationship between the leaders of the Investigation Corps and the Garrison Corps, both hailing from the fifth layer.
If it were the wedding of the Commanding Officer of the Investigation Corps... then it would make perfect sense for the Garrison Corps to host the celebration at the esteed Mingyu Estate.
But how could the wedding of Captain Qin, such a significant event, have gone without ntion?
Especially considering Captain Qin was famously indifferent to the charms of won.
Who was the bride? Just what kind of woman could prompt Captain Qin to rush into marriage? Or was it... not the Commanding Officer’s own wish?
Yin Shuang could not deduce the reasoning, and as she continued to observe her surroundings, she sensed another oddity.
Among the guests, she spotted Liu Chengzi.
Most of the attendees were elite mbers of the Investigation Corps, and Liu Chengzi would not normally be invited, because even Ruan Qingyun and the personnel of the interrogation team hadn’t received invitations; logically, Liu Chengzi should not have been invited either.
Yin Shuang decided to go ask.
She made her way through the crowd to reach Liu Chengzi and patted him on the shoulder.
When Liu Chengzi saw it was Yin Shuang, he imdiately showed a delighted expression, relieved to have found a familiar face at last.
"How co you’re here? Did your captain notify you? Do you know whose wedding it is?"
"The deputy commanding officer asked to attend this wedding. I have no idea... When I heard it was on the third layer, I thought it’d be fun and agreed to co."
The captain?
Based on the identities of those around her, Yin Shuang deduced that those attending the wedding were all elites from both armies, and Liu Chengzi had a reasonable reputation among the male mbers of the Investigation Corps, being soone who mingled well with the male investigators.
But as for his strength... that was hard to say.
Given that the captain had personally instructed Liu Chengzi to attend, it must an that Liu Chengzi was certainly a friend of either the bride or groom.
Yin Shuang didn’t look down on Liu Chengzi; on the contrary, she found him quite impressive, as she herself couldn’t manage to chat so easily with unfamiliar people.
Of course, she wasn’t aware that Liu Chengzi had once used her as an example to explain tea culture to a young girl.
"Co on, we’re over there; sit with us."
"Oh yes, yes, Sister Shuang, you really are an angel. You’ve co at just the right ti," said Liu Chengzi, very familiarly taking Yin Shuang’s hand.
From a distance, the two looked like close sisters.
Yin Shuang still rembered the events in the Food Domain, the conversation between Lizhi and Shen Shuyue among the three sisters.
Perhaps out of sympathy for Liu Chengzi’s predicant, a faint smile squeezed through her icy facade.
As a result, the people from the Investigation Corps ended up seated together,
Squad Seven had the highest attendance, with only the captains and a handful of elite mbers present from other squads.
Except for Bai Wu and Wu Jiu, the Vanguard Group of Squad Seven was fully assembled.
Although most people did not understand the details of the wedding, there was more than one person who, like Yin Shuang, guessed that soone from the High Tower upper echelons was getting married.
It was rare for a manager to have such a public wedding on the third layer, and even more so for the ruling classes.
Many high-ranking individuals held their weddings on the fourth or fifth layer, with hardly anyone making a big show of it on the third layer.
Though curious, the entire atmosphere at Mingyu Estate remained one of laughter and joy.
They didn’t mind who the bride and groom were; it was as if this was just an ordinary wedding.
This attitude was shared by the few mbers of the oversight group; to them, the so-called high-ranking groom was rely an unwelco descendant of the Qin Family. Having lived for hundreds of years, they differed from the others in that they attended the wedding more to witness a junior’s folly than anything else.
Only Xie Xingzhi’s reaction was slightly different.
He kept pretending to blend into conversations with other guardians of the High Tower families.
He gossiped with people like Liu Hu and Pang Li about why the Qin Family would make such a fuss over a wedding, seemingly disdainful of the family, and occasionally would discuss where Yan Zizai had gone, or recount experiences from the last visit to the Black Zone.
However, his gaze would occasionally drift towards the ceiling—nine hundred ters above, at that expanse of ceiling.
This behavior did not escape the yawning Zheng Yue, who found it peculiar. Xie’s gaze made it seem as if he expected that portion of the ceiling to collapse.
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