The golden vertical pupils of the Silver Dragon, the flickering crimson light beneath the hooded cloak, the gaze peering through lush branches, and the silver-haired elf’s eyes—flat to the point of numbness—all converged on Luo Wei at that moment.
“They… they called me Villadriel Shinalis?”
Luo Wei was startled. Was this another case of mistaken identity?
No, that wasn’t right…
The next moment, Luo Wei realized the abnormality of the situation.
Even though she had no intention of moving or speaking, her body walked forward of its own accord. She heard herself reply in a soft voice, “Just some trivial matters.”
That wasn’t her own voice!
“They, and ‘I’… none of us are real existences right now.”
Luo Wei stared directly into the reflections within those many eyes. She saw a blonde girl wearing a purple, round-brimmed pointed hat, yet the girl’s facial features remained blurred and indistinct.
This was a memory.
A fragment of the past that had once unfolded in this very place.
A history concerning Villadriel Shinalis and her fellow travelers.
Luo Wei felt as though her heart should be pounding wildly, but unfortunately, her current heart was a Wisdom Core; it didn’t have a beat.
“Trivial matters should not affect our business,” the Silver Dragon spoke slowly. “You should understand that we only chose to forsake the ‘Laws of the Gods’ because we placed our trust in you.”
Lilith did not speak. She simply walked over and took her seat.
“I have found the Deep Space Era remnant you spoke of, but unfortunately, she was already dead by the time I reached her.” The voice coming from the snake-tongued hood was feminine, yet cold and sibilant, sounding like a freezing dagger pressed against one’s ear.
“Bring her back to life, Ami. You can do it,” Lilith said calmly. “You were once the deity in charge of Flesh and Life. Even if you have forsaken the ‘Laws of the Gods,’ your Authority should not have vanished.”
“I cannot save her,” the figure known as Ami shook her head. “The Deep Space remnants are unlike any form of life I have ever known.”
“Can we use Hua Hua’s power?” Lilith turned to look at the strange plant beside her. Through Lilith’s eyes, Luo Wei could feel the warmth and softness radiating from this plant. “The deity in charge of the Spirits of All Things—call forth the spirit of the past from her remains.”
“I am sorry, I have already tried, but I am powerless.”
Hua Hua swayed her branches and leaves. The clashing of foliage produced a light, melodious sound that formed a language.
“I cannot feel even a trace of a ‘spirit’ within that body. Perhaps, as Ami said, the Deep Space remnants are a form of life we have never seen before, transcending all our understanding.”
“If I may speak plainly, Lilith.”
The Silver Dragon lowered her head, her dragon breath billowing. “The ‘Laws of Deep Space’ are laws that have already collapsed and failed. Even if they used unparalleled technological achievements to allow a single remnant to linger until today, it does not mean the ‘Laws of Deep Space’ have any merit left.”
“Miss Dragon, this has nothing to do with the ‘Laws of Deep Space.’ I simply want to save her. She is a witness to an entire era.” Lilith looked deeply at the Silver Dragon. “Do you have a way? You are the deity in charge of Time and Space.”
Miss Dragon remained silent for a long while before reluctantly admitting her failure.
“Yes. Her time and space were frozen at the final moment of her death. My Authority cannot budge it even a fraction. Does that answer satisfy you?”
“A regrettable answer,” Lilith said plainly. “I will try everything in my power. Hopefully, it will have some effect.”
“Do you intend to use those miraculous patterns of yours?” Hua Hua asked gently.
“These should be called ‘written characters’,” Lilith replied.
“Characters? Based solely on such thin meanings? If one wanted to record a single calendar era, how many stone pillars would be required?” Miss Dragon said dismissively.
“Lilith, the things you have created are interesting, but that doesn’t mean you can achieve things that even deities cannot,” Ami said ethereally. “Even if we have lost our status as the Gods, we are still not existences that humans can compare to.”
“There is no essential difference between gods and humans. Both are merely prisoners bound beneath the ‘Laws of the Gods’.” Lilith glanced at Ami. Luo Wei couldn’t see Lilith’s expression, but she surmised it was likely a bit mocking.
Perhaps because the topic had become heavy, the group fell into silence, and the atmosphere stagnated.
At that moment, the silver-haired elf, who had seemed lost in thought from the beginning, finally spoke. her ethereal voice was devoid of tone, sounding like a cold machine.
“I… have not tried yet.”
“Elf… have you awakened?” Miss Dragon asked with slight surprise. For some reason, her voice softened slightly. “How much time do you have this time?”
“Ten minutes,” the elf said tonelessly. A faint glimmer of spirit returned to her wooden gaze. “Take me to see her. If I miss this, I will have to wait another hundred and twenty years.”
“Eternal life seems like a curse,” Ami suddenly whispered coldly. “Elf, why don’t I help release you? I can grant you a grand death.”
“Ami!”
Miss Dragon shouted indignantly, exhaling a blast of searing dragon breath directly onto Ami’s head.
Ami simply waved a hand, dispersing the dragon breath as if it were nothing. It didn’t affect her at all.
Luo Wei saw that Ami’s exposed hand was completely wrapped in bandages.
Just like a mummy.
“Rest assured, I do not wish to step into death just yet—not before the ‘Laws of the Gods’ have completely rotted away,” the elf replied calmly. “I will see that day with my own eyes. I will witness the death of the Gods who usurped Authority.”
“Hehe…”
Ami laughed, though there was a hint of madness in it.
All the “people” present stood up and followed the silver-haired elf, vanishing into the darkness.
Lilith included.
Luo Wei’s vision finally detached from Lilith’s perspective. She watched as their silhouettes were completely swallowed by the pitch-black void.
Her vision blurred and shifted again. Appearing before Luo Wei once more was the ancient round table. On it, the dim candlelight burned steadily, dispelling a small patch of the surrounding darkness—no more than three feet wide.
It was just enough to envelop Luo Wei, who had just stepped into the room.
Luo Wei’s heart could not settle for a long time.
“Did I just… witness a conversation from several thousand years ago?”
Luo Wei murmured. She slowly approached the table and involuntarily stood beside Lilith’s seat.
After a slight hesitation, she sat down.
The dragon, the mummy, the plant, the elf… it was as if they were still vivid before her eyes.
Luo Wei waited patiently for a while, but nothing happened. It seemed like nothing more than an ordinary table.
She turned to look into the depths of the darkness, feeling an impulse to explore further, wanting to see what happened after that conversation.
However, Luo Wei was also well aware that the darkness here was terrifying. Without the protection of the candlelight, her doll body would surely be scrapped.
She had already gained enough information from this excursion; there was no need to keep risking herself.
Furthermore… it wasn’t guaranteed she would even be able to see what followed.
From that conversation, Luo Wei finally understood the question that had been puzzling her: why the Gods held such a strange attitude toward Lilith—one of both fear and wariness.
“The ‘Laws of the Gods’… it sounds like some sort of fundamental principle that shaped the Gods, which would be the current Sequences and Pathways. The ‘Laws of Deep Space’ must refer to the previous era that was already destroyed…”
From their words, it seemed they were certain that the “Laws of the Gods” would follow in the footsteps of the “Laws of Deep Space,” leading to the total destruction of this world and this era. That was why a portion of the Gods were willing to give up their divine status and choose to cooperate with Lilith…
Luo Wei had always known this world was dangerous.
But she hadn’t expected it to be dangerous to this extent.
“The apocalypse could descend at any moment…”
Luo Wei smiled helplessly. But then, what did that have to do with her?
In that conversation, there was another person worth noting.
—The last Deep Space remnant that Lilith wanted to save.
“Could it be me?”
This wasn’t an excess of self-consciousness on Luo Wei’s part, but a reasonable deduction.
She had transmigrated here and been inexplicably trapped in the candlelight of this place for a full three years before being able to step into this world through Claudia.
If Lilith had absolutely nothing to do with all this, Luo Wei simply wouldn’t believe it.
“If I really am that last Deep Space remnant…”
A terrifying thought suddenly emerged in Luo Wei’s mind.
The so-called Deep Space Era referred to the era she had come from.
“I… is it possible I didn’t transmigrate at all? Did I simply… come to the future of another era?”
It was a possibility worth exploring.
“I really just wanted to ask Boss Sha for a bit of a luck-turn…”
Luo Wei pulled a long face. How did her prayer for luck end up with the world being destroyed?
That said, it was only one possibility; nothing was certain yet.
…In fact, it wasn’t even confirmed if Luo Wei was that Deep Space remnant.
“However, judging from the current situation, whatever Lilith and the others were plotting must have failed…”
Luo Wei looked around, taking in the ancient castle interior faintly visible in the darkness. A sudden sense of the relentless passage of time washed over her.
In the end of the story, Villadriel Shinalis was completely exiled, and the other rebel gods had vanished without a trace—at least in the relevant records Luo Wei had flipped through, there was no mention of the deities who controlled those specific Authorities.
The era of the “Laws of the Gods” continued.
“Anyway… for now, it shouldn’t have much to do with me.”
Luo Wei shook her head, brushing away the messy thoughts in her mind.
She reached out, intending to take the candle from the table—at the very least it could dispel the darkness. Every bit counted. It might even come in handy for her next exploration.
But the moment Luo Wei touched the candlestick, her consciousness blurred once more.
“Don’t tell me… am I falling into another memory of the past?”
Luo Wei was shocked, but what she expected didn’t happen. Instead, between the seats around the circular table, several points of light suddenly emerged.
Except for the elf’s seat, which remained vacant, various colored orbs of light were suspended over the other positions.
“Hiss… it can’t be that those great deities have all come back, can it!”
Luo Wei hurriedly let go of the candle. Right now, she had absolutely no desire to interact with those gods.
Facing off against powerful deities while she was still weak was not a good thing…
Luo Wei didn’t dare gamble on whether they would be friendly.
Even if they might mistake her for Lilith, it was the same.
From that conversation, it was clear that the former deities and Lilith were only collaborators, and there were more or less conflicts between them.
Even the relationships between the deities themselves were not very harmonious.
The several orbs of light quickly coalesced, transforming into figures that were either tall, short, petite, or graceful.
“…They don’t seem to be those anthropomorphic creatures?”
Luo Wei didn’t speak. She didn’t dare to open her mouth, so she simply sat there calmly.
However, when the first orb of light spoke, the stone hanging in her heart finally fell.
“W-where is this?” In Miss Dragon’s seat, a white light orb cried out in a panic. It was a milky, childish voice, tinged with a sob. “Grandma! Grandma, where are you… your girl really has been kidnapped!”
At Ami’s position, the red light orb was an adult woman. She wasn’t panicked like the white orb; instead, she looked around with a calm and vigilant gaze, finally focusing her eyes on Luo Wei.
At Hua Hua’s position, the green light orb was a young girl. She looked around curiously, eventually turning to Luo Wei and giggling.
“Hello there! Was it you who brought us here?”
“It seems it’s not them…”
Luo Wei fell into a brief contemplation, then slowly spoke,
“Miss Dragon. Ami. Hua Hua.”
As soon as her words fell, the scene plunged into a deathly silence, including the white light orb that had just been crying.
The gazes of all the orbs focused entirely on Luo Wei.
“From where did you get those titles?” the red orb asked calmly. It was a cold, clear voice. “There is only one existence who would call my Lord Mifa by that name.”
“Hua Hua? Does that refer to my family ancestor, the Flower Fairy?” The green orb was still cheerful, appearing to adapt to the environment very quickly.
“Grandma! Grandma!” the white light orb cried out again. “Someone called me Miss Dragon! Does that mean I’ve finally grown up?!”
Luo Wei pondered for a moment, then added,
“Villadriel Shinalis.”
The mention of this True Name directly stunned every light orb present.
“The Ancestor of Incantations, Lilith’s True Name… Who exactly are you?”
The red orb spoke slowly, her gaze fixed intently on Luo Wei, as if trying to see through to her True Form.
“I hope these names can help you recall a few things,” Luo Wei said unhurriedly. At the same time, she felt much more composed internally.
Since they weren’t the original deities, things would be much easier to handle. She would just use what she had just learned.
From the current situation, these light orbs seemed to correspond to certain existences in the present world, all of whom were related to the former goddesses—either as followers or descendants.
As for the empty seat where the elf should be, perhaps it was because she had no followers or descendants…
Judging from the conversation about being awake for ten minutes and then sleeping for over a hundred years, she was likely still sleeping somewhere, not yet awakened.
