"Of course not."
The rfolk statue swayed its tail and responded in a voice as calm as still water:
"The origin is the origin, the world is the world. A world that loses its origin won’t be destroyed instantly; it will collapse from order to disorder, little by little fading away due to its own imbalance and chaos."
I see...
Leon fell silent for a mont after hearing this. Instead of imdiately urging her to explain the whereabouts of the two directors, he softened his tone and asked:
"Then, your Netherworld..."
"It froze to death, I suppose."
Understanding what Leon wanted to ask, the rfolk statue sat at the edge of a small shell, gazing at the deep blue waters opposite the sea’s eye, and said softly:
"Back then, before the ’freezing’ property of the seawater had dissipated, the ’heat preservation’ property faded away first. In the first century after I was defeated, more than seventy percent of all marine life in the Netherworld was frozen to death, leaving only a few cold-resistant species.
The remaining mbers of my race, along with other races that once worshiped and followed , built the ruins you saw at the place where I died. By praying to my corpse, they were able to acquire the last remnants of the origin color from my body, ensuring the normal operation of world rules."
"And they..."
"They died, of course."
The rfolk statue shrugged.
"I was powerful in the past, but by then I was already a corpse. How much of the origin color could possibly remain? Protecting a few people was the limit!"
"..."
"Initially, when more of the origin color was left, they managed to maintain the warmth of an entire sea region. Later, as the origin color from my body dwindled, they had to start contracting the range.
Then they tried their best to cultivate cold algae to compensate for the food sources lost due to the mass death of plants and animals. Finally, they even moved ashore from the sea and built lots of warm shelters.
But even though they did everything they could, they only managed to hold on for a little over four hundred years."
Raising a hand to summon a sea current, which dragged both herself and Leon toward the sea surface, the rfolk statue said apathetically:
"Shortly after the beginning of the fourth century, the rule that ’nutrition’ cos from ’food consumption’ began to gradually vanish. The remnants of the origin color from my body were entirely extracted. In a dozen years, all the remaining rfolk died one after another.
By the fifth century after my death, the last living person in the Netherworld also ca to this ’holy ground’ wrapped in a robe, offered sacrifices to my statue, built those shell houses to live in, and started engraving tombstones for , for our race, and for the entire Netherworld."
"Engraving tombstones?"
Listening quietly till now, Leon couldn’t help but ask:
"The tombstone you ntioned..."
"It’s the one you saw by the island."
The rfolk statue swam out of the shell and sat on the edge of Leon’s palm, gazing at the distant ruins with a warm voice:
"I’ve forgotten what the person who engraved the tombstone looked like, only rembered that he was nearing his end. He spent over two years to finish the stone tablet and propped it up by the island. Soon after, he could barely move, struggled to crawl back to make one last prayer, but fell on the way and never got up again...
Oh right, the skeleton closest to the ruins among the buried remains blown open when you ca ashore was his. Fortunately, the rule of ’decay’ had already faded long before his death. Otherwise, nothing would have been left."
"..."
When the song sinks into the island rocks, when scales turn to bone sand, I will beco the last monunt of this world, together with the sea breeze...
Recalling the only phrase readable by the old rfolk on the stone tablet, Leon paused for a mont before speaking:
"Then, who... hm... who was it that took the Netherworld’s origin then? Do you know its na or the serial number among the origins?"
"Why?"
Glancing up at Leon, the rfolk statue suddenly smiled.
"Feeling indignant about our fate and wanting to avenge us?"
"Not exactly."
Glancing toward the direction of the island ruins, faintly catching sight of the outline of the giant stone tablet, Leon took a deep breath and said:
"If it can co to steal your world’s origin, then one day it will co to steal my world’s origin. Therefore, I hope to know who the enemy is, so I won’t be in the dark when disaster strikes... perhaps also help you and those who tried to live, to get sothing back from it."
"..."
After looking at Leon’s expression, the rfolk statue suddenly sighed.
"Alas... I am truly a sinful woman."
"?"
"My beauty is the greatest sin in the world."
The rfolk statue said sowhat helplessly:
"Who would have thought that after being dead for who knows how many years, I can still captivate a young man digging up my grave, making him rush to avenge ."
"???"
"Don’t be shy~ Being chard by is quite normal~"
After blinking at Leon, who looked speechless, the rfolk statue surveyed him up and down with eyes casting an ocean blue, then playfully said:
"I do find you quite interesting. Not only is your character good, but your looks fit my aesthetic, and you are from my race... It’s a pity. If you had co when I was alive, we might have done sothing together, maybe had a child to continue the clan or sothing~"
"..."
Damn you... even in death, you don’t stop ssing around!
Leon was imdiately speechless when the rfolk statue managed to steer the conversation this way.
Yet just as he was about to quip, the rfolk statue’s expression turned slightly solemn, addressing him:
"Wait a mont! I think I figured out why you ca to the Netherworld!"
"Huh?"
"It’s ti! The ti on you isn’t right... or perhaps it’s my ti that’s not right."
Amid Leon’s surprised expression, the rfolk statue explained:
"The position of the Netherworld is in Old Soil, and ti and space in Old Soil are discontinuous. Therefore, the ti here and the ti in your world are actually misaligned."
The rfolk statue’s eyes gradually intensified in ocean blue light, and with a gaze seemingly piercing through Leon, she scrutinized him for a while before continuing:
"Currently, the Netherworld is connected to the Cold Springs domain, but the Netherworld’s rules will relentlessly dissipate. According to the Cold Springs domain’s rules, once the oceans in Netherworld lose their existence value, the sea eye representing [Cold Springs-Netherworld] will migrate autonomously to another vibrant new plane!"
What?!
Upon hearing this, Leon vaguely understood her assumption, speaking with shock:
"You’re saying... that the sea eye representing [Cold Springs-Current World] essentially automatically migrated to a new plane [Cold Springs-Netherworld] after Cold Springs domain experienced severe damage? So we are actually... as if we ca from your future?"
"Almost spot on."
Observing the subtly "misplaced" ti on Leon, the rfolk statue nodded slightly with a complex expression:
"Only then can it be explained why you would appear here, and why I have never heard of your human circumstances. It’s not because I slept for too long, but because your matters belong to the future for ...
This phenonon, although uncommon, isn’t impossible in Old Soil... Our worlds exist in different tis, but in Old Soil, encountering people from either past or future is quite normal, and you’ll get used to it eventually."
Get used to it... What kind of unexpected direction am I getting pushed into here? How will I ever get used to this?
Just as Leon couldn’t help but inhale sharply, trying to co to terms with such a shockingly absurd possibility, the rfolk statue couldn’t help but glance at him, her expression showing a hint of hesitation.
Though ti displacent is commonplace in Old Soil, the span usually remains within years or months, so even only a few seconds off. To leap thousands or tens of thousands of years in a single bound is extrely rare.
Moreover, even with a sea eye as an "anchor point," being able to send soone from the future to the Netherworld isn’t sothing just any pillar deity can accomplish. Considering the "Evangelin" he ntioned... could it be that I really went to that current world in the future?
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