Chapter 9: Bai’s Form +1
“The young man stood before me. He looked back at me, but it was as if he wasn’t seeing me. Then he turned and left.”
“But I never thought… that would be the last time I would ever see him.”
“The End.”
Bai closed the book, a strange, unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.
It was a feeling of wanting to complain, but not knowing where to begin.
The “novel” had been written by Lin Yan, from her own perspective. It was less a novel, more a collection of essays and diary entries, with little connection to the title. It was all about her and her story.
“I can’t believe I finished it…” Bai sighed, turning to hand the book back to Eleanor, but found her staring, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“…What is it?” Bai’s eye twitched slightly.
“Nothing. I just think you look like a quiet, bookish little girl when you’re reading,” Eleanor said, patting down her dress and sitting back.
“I really don’t understand how your mind works,” Bai said, handing her the book.
“So, what did you think?” Eleanor asked, flipping through the pages.
“It was… alright,” Bai said dismissively, then, a thought occurring to her, asked, “By the way, when did you buy this book? Five years ago?”
“I don’t remember. But it couldn’t have been five years ago. I didn’t see it when I moved two years ago,” Eleanor said honestly. “And the publication date seems to be within the last two years…”
Bai’s pupils constricted. “I see…”
“What is it? Not popular enough?” Eleanor asked, squinting at the book, her elvish eyes struggling with the human text.
“No, it’s nothing,” Bai said, looking away.
She didn’t bother explaining. Eleanor wouldn’t have understood anyway.
The book was clearly Lin Yan’s memories, her voice, her style.
“But… Lin Yan should know who I am…” Bai frowned, a feeling that she was missing something.
From the moment Sister Neily had brought her out of the endless dream, to her time as “Xu Bai” in the North Empire’s Garrison Knights, to her “rebirth” as “Bai,” Lin Yan should have remembered.
But now, in her interactions with Bai, she showed no sign of recognition. And the novel… it was as if she had forgotten everything…
Unless the book had been written five years ago, but the timeline, and Eleanor’s own memory, contradicted that.
“Could it be… that I’ve been forgotten?”
A strange, unsettling feeling washed over her.
She knew that the sealing of the Abyssal Lord had involved erasing all memories of her, but had her own memories also been erased?
“What’s wrong, Bai?” Eleanor asked, sensing her distress.
Bai considered asking her about the great war five years ago, but Eleanor quickly dismissed it. “Oh, that? I don’t know anything about it. I was busy trying to repair the sacred artifact fragments. That thing is so hard to fix…”
“Alright,” Bai sighed.
It seemed Eleanor was a dead end. She would have to ask someone else.
This was a crucial clue, a key to her true identity, and to Ara, who was still trapped in the drifting laboratory.
And she remembered, after defeating the Abyssal Lord phantom, she had briefly fallen into a place called the “Place of Divine Advent,” though her memory of it was hazy.
The only thing she remembered was the countless voices, a chorus of unknown beings, watching her.
Perhaps Eleanor knew something about that.
“By the way, Eleanor, have you ever heard of the Place of Divine Advent?”
“Hmm… no,” she said, shaking her head, then, a thought occurring to her, she added, “But it sounds like a place where gods live. The elves have many books about gods. Let me see… huh? Why do I have a book called ‘The Divine Advent of What-cha-ma-call-it’? And it’s written in the Abyssal language. How strange…”
She carefully picked up the ancient-looking book and handed it to Bai.
“Your book collection is… extensive. So extensive you don’t even remember what you have,” Bai said, a corner of her mouth twitching. Just a moment ago, she had said she had never heard of it, and now she was pulling out a book with the same name.
“I really don’t know! Where did all these strange books come from? Let me see if there are any others I don’t remember…”
Eleanor began to rummage through the pile of books, messing up the neat stacks Bai had made.
But…
Bai looked at the ancient book in her hand. It was less a book, more a collection of papers, barely held together, without a proper cover or binding.
The twisted Abyssal script was barely legible. She could make out the words “Divine Advent,” but the rest was a blur.
She had a feeling the book wasn’t written with words, but with some other, more mysterious power.
Besides the title, the other words were indistinct, impossible to read.
“Perhaps… I need to use an Abyssal demon’s bloodline?”
The thought flashed through her mind, and she activated her soul vision. She had plenty of demonic bloodlines to choose from.
But to her surprise, all the lights in her soul vision were dim, unusable, even the silver light, bound by countless dark-gold chains.
“Even this is sealed?”
But one light still burned brightly, a vibrant, pulsating flame.
“Sister Neily…”
Yes, the last gift from Sister Neily, before she died.
Bai reached out, touching the light, and felt a familiar, comforting warmth, as if she were in Neily’s embrace…
A pink light enveloped her, and Eleanor, who had been digging through her books, looked up, her jaw dropping.
“Bai?! What the hell happened to you?!”
