Chapter 242: Annihilation and History

Yu Sheng came to the edge of this broken floating island, gazing somewhat absently out at the boundless chaos and void beyond, and at the magnificent stream of light that stretched across the darkness, as if lost in thought.

Baili Qing's voice came from behind him: "What are you thinking about?"

"Random things, mostly about Ankahela," Yu Sheng did not hide it, his tone carrying a note of emotion. "I know it might sound a bit strange to say this, but the truth is I've never really had any concrete sense of beings like 'Dark Angels,' and Ankahela was the first Dark Angel I've ever communicated with… the things in its memories are hard for me to let go of."

Footsteps came from the side as Baili Qing walked up beside Yu Sheng: "What are you referring to? The disaster that befell its homeland? Or the extinction of a civilization that it represents?"

"Both, I guess," Yu Sheng scratched his hair. "That dead ecosphere is a pity, but the disaster in Ankahela's memory is even more shocking — probably because I directly 'experienced' the 'memory,' I even felt like I had witnessed that disaster with my own eyes…"

Baili Qing pressed her lips together, looking as though she wanted to say something but held back.

Yu Sheng felt that this wasn't the first time the other had shown such an expression — when he had mentioned certain details in Ankahela's memory earlier, this female bureau chief's reactions had always been a little concerning.

He could not help but frown: "…Do you happen to know something I don't?"

Baili Qing did not answer directly, but countered with a question: "What exactly was that disaster in Ankahela's memory like?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, and didn't hide anything: "There are some very abstract 'impressions,' I don't know how to describe them in words, but from the 'images,' it seems like something just split the entire universe open… it might sound exaggerated? But there really was a rift between the stars, a red rift, all celestial bodies were gradually disintegrating or burning, the ark-ships in flight were caught by a red light, you couldn't see what was happening at all, they just 'dissolved' into that light one by one…"

Yu Sheng paused mid-sentence, as if merely recalling the sights he had once seen in his mind made him feel a bit dizzy, while Baili Qing, after hearing his words, fell into an eerie silence for several seconds before softly uttering a single line: "It's not an exaggeration."

Yu Sheng froze for two seconds before realizing the information hidden in Baili Qing's whispered reply: "…Huh?!"

He then quickly added: "What do you mean? You know what that thing was? I thought everything about the Dark Angels was a mystery…"

"Everything about the Dark Angels is a mystery to us, but the red light you mentioned, and that universe-tearing sight, are not," Baili Qing said calmly. "At first when you brought it up I wasn't sure, but now I'm somewhat confident — the thing in Ankahela's memory has appeared in our world too. Or more strictly speaking, it appeared before this world was born."

Yu Sheng stood there as if frozen, his mind roaring with information, and after a long while he finally blinked, his thoughts catching up with the sheer volume of information in Baili Qing's words: "…You're saying that 'before the world was born,' that rift and red light had already appeared in this world? Wait, that means…"

Baili Qing raised her eyes to look at him, calm and solemn: "This world has been destroyed before."

Yu Sheng: "…What?!"

"This isn't really a secret, but only a few people know about it, and even fewer specialize in researching this field," Baili Qing said unhurriedly, as if merely discussing some legend far removed from reality. "It means exactly what it says — the world we live in was actually destroyed once before — and everything you see now was born after the second 'Singularity Burst.'

"In the ancient and obscure stories of the Barmossa people, it was the greatest among the Primordial Saints who accomplished this feat, and the long-established academies of Terra even record many legends about the Old World. I'm not an expert in this area, so my understanding of the second Singularity Burst and the Old World is limited to these, but one thing I'm quite sure of — what you described, what Ankahela experienced… is the 'Annihilation' in the records."

Yu Sheng stood with his mouth open, and after a long while he finally drew a sharp breath from his throat: "Hold on a sec, that's a lot of information, let me sort it out first, I need to rebuild my worldview or something…"

As he spoke, Yu Sheng raised a hand and tapped his temple, rapidly organizing the information in his mind, and finally arranged them into a continuous thread of clues.

In the way that was easiest for him to understand.

"Alright, I get what you're saying. You mean our world has already been wiped out once by that thing called 'Annihilation,' right? Then the Primordial Saints… I've heard you mention them, in my understanding they're a bunch of beings similar to 'gods,' and the greatest among them recreated the world after the apocalypse, which gave us the current Borderlands, and the entire universe outside the Borderlands. That's right, isn't it?

"And now, a group of 'Dark Angels' keeps 'invading' this world, growing more numerous over time, and the latest intel shows that at least one of the Dark Angels 'fell' in because its home world also suffered 'Annihilation'… that's the whole picture, right?"

Baili Qing listened, then slowly nodded: "I think that's right."

Yu Sheng pressed his fist against his forehead, pushing hard.

He felt the matter was big — very big.

"So can we sum up the meaning behind the Dark Angels' constant invasion in one sentence? From the perspective of our 'world,' it's — the Annihilation of xx is still chasing me?" The corner of Baili Qing's eye visibly twitched, but her expression quickly steeled itself again.

"That's the worst possibility, but it's not very likely," after a moment's deliberation, the female bureau chief still shook her head cautiously. "Because at least according to the guidance passed down from the Primordial Saints, the 'Annihilation' has truly ended, and even the destruction of the Old World was a very long time ago. Ankahela's memory confirms this: it wandered for a very, very long time, until the red light that had swallowed all the other ark-ships disappeared from its detectors. So personally, I don't think we need to worry about the so-called 'Annihilation' returning."

"But more and more Dark Angels really are 'invading' this world," Yu Sheng said in a low voice. "Before we could say they came in force, but now no matter how I look at it, I feel like they're being… 'driven' here by something, and that thing 'driving' them is getting closer and closer."

Baili Qing's expression clearly grew solemn — this was the most obvious change of expression Yu Sheng had seen on this iron-faced elder sister's face in all the time he'd known her.

Yu Sheng fell silent again for a while, then suddenly asked: "These 'Primordial Saints' you mentioned — have they always been in contact with the mortal world? It sounds like they still send 'guidance'… is there any way to contact them now and ask what's going on?"

"It's not easy," Baili Qing slowly shook her head. "A long time ago, the Primordial Saints' contact with the mortal world was fairly frequent, but as the entire universe gradually stabilized after the second Singularity Burst, their contact with the mortal world has been decreasing. The Barmossa people say this is because the Primordial Saints' sphere of activity is gradually shifting to the edge of the observable universe — they have a more important mission, they must patrol the border of the Stellar Veil there to maintain the stability of the real universe.

"Only occasionally does one of them return from there to have limited communication with the 'Chosen,' but even such communication last occurred more than a decade ago."

Yu Sheng frowned, digesting the information while thinking, and after a moment asked: "This 'Barmossa people' you keep mentioning — what exactly do they do? Are they closely connected with the Primordial Saints?"

"They are mortals too, just a relatively ancient race in the universe, and the entire race is passionate about excavating history and seeking 'truth,' so they know quite a few ancient mysteries. The most famous among them are their 'Prophets' — the Barmossa people produce many Prophets, who are said to keenly sense the direction of things, even achieving short-term foresight and glimpsing the essence of all things, and their supreme leader is the greatest and oldest of all Prophets," Baili Qing explained patiently. "As for being closely connected with the Primordial Saints… actually the Barmossa people aren't that different from other races, they just know a bit more."

"Oh," Yu Sheng nodded thoughtfully, his brow still tightly furrowed. "The last contact was more than a decade ago… When Dark Angels invade normally, they don't show up?"

Baili Qing didn't speak, just spread her hands.

Not a single error in any chapter, any release, any content — all in one read!

Yu Sheng didn't press further on this question.

He just had thoughts turning over in his heart.

Those called "Primordial Saints" truly exist, and since they are real intelligent beings who would communicate with mortal individuals, their actions must be rational, must have reasons.

The Dark Angels invade reality, yet the Primordial Saints haven't come back to help directly — there must be a reason for that too.

What could that reason be?

Yu Sheng mulled it over for a long time, and could only think of two answers — either these "Saints" who have always been protecting the world don't actually care about the fate of the mortal realm, or…

The situation at the edge of the observable universe is even more damn serious than the Angel invasion here.

Bad news, and worse news.

Yu Sheng shook his head, thinking that Baili Qing must have thought of all this too — and probably long ago — many people like her had thought of it.

"…Life still has to go on," he sighed softly.

"Yes, life still has to go on," Baili Qing said, a faint, almost imperceptible smile at the corner of her eye.

But just then, a pleasant phone ringtone suddenly came, interrupting her movement.

Baili Qing picked up her phone, glanced at it, and casually answered, holding it to her ear.

Yu Sheng blinked, unsure if he was seeing things — he felt like after Baili Qing listened to a couple of lines on the phone, her face showed an expression of "this life really still can't go on"…

(End of this chapter)