Chapter 13: Detection

Three days later, in the morning.

“Go straight in?” Ye Jingqiu hesitated as she turned back, confirming suspiciously once more.

“Yeah, yeah, just go straight in.” Ye Jingqiu’s distrust clearly got under Ning Wan’s skin—she wasn’t exactly known for her patience—and she waved her hand impatiently. “Hurry up already.”

This was a sealed laboratory somewhere in the Instinct and Hetero-species Department. Floor, walls, ceiling… everything gleamed with a cold white metallic sheen, giving off that distinctive electroplated texture.

The lab was vast and empty, with no sign of any experimental equipment. The only thing present was a massive sheet of Fused Quartz Glass standing right in the center, splitting the space neatly in two.

It also separated Ye Jingqiu from everyone else.

Ye Jingqiu sensed something was off. She glanced back through the glass door, where her new captain, Shi Zui, stood with perfect posture, leisurely flipping through a nameless ancient tome. Her gaze only occasionally flicked over Ye Jingqiu.

Not far from Shi Zui stood a cluster of excited researchers, some clutching paper and pens, others holding ink screens, huddled in small groups with eyes gleaming like starving wolves.

Why did she suddenly feel like a lab specimen?

Ning Wan stood at the front of the group. Her outfit was far more casual than the others’, and she urged irritably, “Come on, Xiao Qiu, just walk through! It’s a door—a door!”

Ye Jingqiu rapped her knuckles against the imposingly cold metal wall on her right. The crisp, echoing clang only fueled her doubts about Ning Wan’s claim.

Talk about a next-level “calling a deer a horse.”

But there was no helping it. Captain Shi had explained that this was a mandatory test for every Awakener, designed specifically to assess the functional traits of their Instinct. For someone like her, with an ability that grew stronger against tougher opponents and some vague Aether Instinct, dodging this step was impossible.

Word was, the space inside was an Alchemy Space forged from Alchemy and an Exotic Beast’s heart, but the testing process—and what each person faced—was unique to the individual.

Urgent voices prodded her from behind again. Ye Jingqiu felt a twinge of nerves and instinctively sought out the most familiar face in the room.

Her eyes met those of her captain, who had quietly closed her book at some point.

Shi Zui betrayed no surprise at the glance. Instead, in a rare move, she nodded encouragingly at Ye Jingqiu.

No words were needed. It was reassuring all the same.

Ye Jingqiu felt her racing heartbeat steady. She quickly looked away, thinking that while the captain might be a little cold, she was a hell of a lot more reliable than A-Xie!

Taking a deep breath, she savored the cool air gliding over the roof of her mouth, then squeezed her eyes shut and charged straight at the solid wall:

“Ding—”

Gray light surged, and the door swung open! Ye Jingqiu faltered for just a moment before vanishing into thin air the next second, as if she’d evaporated. At the same instant, gentle ripples like water waves spread across the Fused Quartz Glass, followed by a blinding flare—as if an overloaded display screen was loading something monumental.

Everyone else in the room remained utterly unfazed, like this was just another day.

“Finally went in,” Ning Wan muttered with a tsk, glancing at Shi Zui. “Why’s your little teammate so hesitant about everything?”

Shi Zui’s gaze rested calmly on the glass, her tone carrying a subtle defense. “She’s new. It’s to be expected.”

“Such a softie for your team. I barely said anything.” Ning Wan arched a brow.

She was a researcher in the Instinct and Hetero-species Department, specializing in Aether Elements. Her Instinct was 【Aether: Prophecy】—the very “prophet” who’d foreseen the Copy Potion working.

She also provided remote support to Team One as an external member, so she knew this outwardly aloof but fiercely protective woman inside and out.

The poster child for tsundere behavior, always bottling up her feelings and playing tough.

If Ning Wan hadn’t once caught her secretly playing with Aether in a corner, she might’ve bought the whole emotionless robot act.

“Speaking of which, you’re the last one in the Base who hasn’t entered the Mirror Domain, right?” Ning Wan turned to her, face serious. “Base Leader still won’t let you?”

The Mirror Domain was the Base’s nickname for this Alchemy Space. Its primary purpose was to immerse Awakeners in Aether Element illusions, revealing the upper limits of their Instinct and their current Rampage Value range.

No Awakener would skip a chance to better understand their own power—except Shi Zui. This S-rank, whom Base Leader Ying Tian had personally brought to the Base nine years ago, had never once set foot inside.

Shi Zui hummed. “My memories are still unstable. You’ll be waiting a while.”

Ning Wan sighed. “What a waste. You know your stacked Instinct is unprecedented, right? An Instinct with no upper limit is downright scary. One session in there, and the elemental flow data alone would keep us busy for half a year.”

“The Technology Department’s simulator is already in beta testing,” Shi Zui offered helpfully. “You could snag an early access slot.”

“Not the same thing at all.” Ning Wan shot her a look.

She glanced back at the glass screen, which still hadn’t loaded an image, and frowned. “What’s taking so long? This kid’s inner world must be a jungle.”

The origins of Instincts were still a mystery, but based on known cases, at least half stemmed from an Awakener’s deepest, most intense emotions.

The Mirror Domain awakened those emotions, exponentially amplifying the Instinct in a virtual space to test its limits.

Shi Zui unfolded her book again. “Word Manifestation takes time.”

“Honestly, I’m dying to know more about this odd Instinct,” Ning Wan said, arms crossed. “Ninety-eight percent of Instincts so far are just brute-force aggression. They don’t even brush against the Thirteen Laws or the source.”

“If Word Manifestation is just casual control over the four basic elements, it’s worth even less for source probing than your stacking.”

Shi Zui handed her the ancient tome. “And as all things were made from contemplation of one, so all things were born from one adaptation.”

Among all things exists that singular essence, so all things arise from one origin.

This was the third aphorism from the Emerald Jade Record. In the ancient tongue, it read, “Things end with the one, begin with the one,” evoking cycles of reincarnation—the law of life and death.

Ning Wan froze. “What……”

“Myths and legends from around the world are full of tales of resurrection,” Shi Zui said calmly. “The laws of life and death defy reason more than anything, which is why they’re so often recorded. By cross-referencing the historical appearances of the four known Word Manifestation wielders, we might uncover some clues about this Instinct. I figured it would interest you.”

“You sneaky one, pulling out random stuff to fool me again!” Ning Wan let out a long breath. “I thought you’d actually found a real revival record. But, my dear Captain Shi……”

Her tone turned teasing. “Xiao Qiu’s only been here a day, and you’re already so eager to burn S-Rank Authority just to analyze her Instinct for her? Still pretending, are you?”

Ancient texts that sealed away countless secrets were often faded and illegible, beyond even Aether’s ability to parse—and they demanded high clearance to access in the first place. So when it came to obscure Instincts like this one, there really was no shortcut; you had to slog through the books by hand.

Shi Zui’s expression didn’t change. “She’s my team member. It’s my duty.”

They were still talking when the quartz glass “display” in the distance suddenly went still. A pale gray glow, like the layered curtains of an ancient palace hall, rippled open to reveal the illusion currently confronting Ye Jingqiu.

“Xiao Qiu says all her knowledge of Exotic Beasts comes from a dream,” Ning Wan said, turning her gaze back to the screen with keen interest. “So is this the Mirror Domain pulling her dream into reality?”

At Ying Tian’s orders, Ye Jingqiu’s full profile was restricted to Center Group and Team One personnel only. As a result, most people had no idea that the Base’s new S-Rank Specialist was an amnesiac of unknown origins who had already tangled with Exotic Beasts multiple times before even setting foot inside.

Every researcher in the room held their breath without thinking, their eyes locked on the glass like iron filings to a magnet as they waited alongside Aether to log the elemental fluctuations within the illusion.

The image sharpened. The screen flushed with a vivid crimson hue.

“What’s that? Doesn’t look like blood, does it?” Ning Wan rubbed her chin, intrigued. “But it has this crystalline transparency to it……”

“Shrieeeek—”

In that instant, a draconic cry rent the void—as if some primordial god had slashed open the endless sky with a bronze ritual blade. Countless Exotic Beasts roared in fury across a vast wilderness.

The view pulled back farther. Ning Wan’s guess wasn’t far off: that crimson wasn’t blood at all. It was the eye of this colossal beast!

A vertical pupil. A deadly vertical pupil.

Scarlet like molten steel coursed through it, so dense it seemed ready to bleed; the slit gleamed with ancient, pitiless blue, as if a cold, flameless fire flickered in its depths.

This was a world beyond words. Tons of pure gold had been hammered into a palace dome that rivaled the heavens; rivers of flowing mercury mimicked oceans and seas, while jadeite gems were sculpted into sun, moon, and stars.

Its body—too blinding to behold—was armored in scales sharp as blades. Hundreds of meters long, it coiled in a sinuous, graceful arc.

An overwhelming aura exploded outward.

Things had gone irreversibly wrong. Ning Wan’s eyes went wide, her skin crawling with goosebumps. Researchers stumbled back, trembling, their pens and papers slipping from numb fingers—devices clattered to the floor, the air thick with horror.

No one could have predicted it. The terror buried deepest in Ye Jingqiu’s heart wasn’t some heartrending love, nor gnashing hatred, nor lingering regrets or fury.

It was an Exotic Beast.

ID: SY-000007. Candle Dragon.