Chapter 1011

According to the Star Core Hunters' previous modus operandi, they would prepare for something long, long in advance. For example, to allow Xing to go to Pinokangni, they would even take out the Brotherhood just to ensure the invitation could be smoothly delivered into the hands of the Grand Duke of Netherfire. Many of their seemingly inscrutable actions might be foreshadowing something in the distant future.

So, Xing being sent to the space station, implanted with a Star Core, awakened… probably all part of some great mission of the Star Core Hunters. We cannot see the full picture now, but someday we will.

—

"What happened, Xing?"

Kafka turned her head to look at her, that smile she knew so well appearing on her face—half cold, half warm.

"Why did I forget you…?" Xing held her forehead, her expression somewhat painful.

"... Forgot?" Kafka didn't immediately understand her meaning, "Did I do something to upset you, Xing? We are partners; I don't want anything to come between us, including doubts."

"I…"

And like Blade, Kafka's words were cut off mid-sentence, these memories beginning to freeze rapidly.

She knew Kafka would no longer respond to her calls.

"I can't understand… what meaning does all this have?"

Just as Xing felt confused, Oluo nis's voice suddenly echoed in her mind, and strangely, this time she could actually understand what she was saying.

"Beautiful… sealed away… mother… are you still there?"

"Are you watching?"

"The countercurrent of memory… knocking. Outside the window… remember, look outside the window."

Xing was pondering the meaning in Oluo nis's words, but when she raised her head again, Liuying, Kafka, and the Silver Wolf before her had turned into the figures of Danheng and March 7th from her memories.

And at that very moment…

She saw a thread of white light.

Not coming from any single direction—but surging simultaneously from all sides. It poured down from the vast Star Sea outside the window, splashed from the chandelier on the train ceiling, burst from the invisible particles in the air. It was not a gentle, warm light that made one want to close their eyes, but a cold one. Like cracks spreading across ice, like the faint chill emitted after six-way ice refracts countless times.

It was more essential, more ancient—like the void before the birth of the universe, and like the instant of stillness before time began to turn.

It was…

A glance from 【Memory】Fuli.

"Heavenly Father… are you watching?"

—

Black Robe Riot Squad.

Those images came without any warning.

One second, Soldier Boy was still looking up at the white light in the sky curtain, excited to see Fuli, the next second—he was swallowed.

Not swallowed by light, but by memory.

Those memories came too suddenly, too violently, like a runaway train crashing deep into his consciousness. He had no preparation, could not even resist. When he opened his eyes again, he had become the Soviet test subject strapped to the lab table.

The light overhead flickered, blindingly white, making him want to vomit.

His jaw was fixed, the machine gun barrel thrust into his throat, madly pumping dozens of rounds per second into his mouth. He felt liquid nitrogen sprayed on his chest, his skin quickly turning grayish-white, a laser from its flank tracing up along his waistline, carving a shocking wound—

He felt his chest begin to burn, a fierce pain spreading outward from the center of his chest, seeping into every rib, every vertebra, every breath. The scene before his eyes shifted, blurred—

"Soldier Boy!"

A distant voice sounded in his ear, like coming from the water's surface.

"Damn it… look at me! Soldier Boy! Look at me!"

The voice sounded again, a bit closer but still muffled.

Until—

With a "bang," Soldier Boy felt his head smashed hard by something; when he opened his eyes again, the researchers before him had turned into Bu Che Er and Hugh.

His head was knocked to one side, his green pupils trembling like a reflection on water shaken by wind. At the same time, the white light gathering in his chest began to dim.

"Hey." Hugh's voice was soft as he walked up to Soldier Boy, looking at his still somewhat unfocused eyes, "Hey, you're not in the lab, you're in Brooklyn. Do you remember?"

Soldier Boy's gaze shifted to Hugh's face, lingered a few seconds, then moved away.

"Just now that was…"

"It's the power of the 【Memory】 path, the Star God has appeared, and just now we were all affected, falling into a brief recollection." Bu Che Er rubbed his eye sockets, "Damn, I had no preparation at all."

Outside the apartment came the incessant honking of cars; Soldier Boy walked to the window, only to see the streets filled with wrecked cars and casualties. That continuous dozens-of-seconds "memory" had forcibly held everyone, for New York's public transport it was nothing short of catastrophic.

"There's a good show coming up." Bu Che Er pointed at the TV—the signal had been cut off, the screen cycling through ads, "Just now, during the Homelander's live interview, he also fell into the 'memory,' no one knows what he saw, maybe he mistook the host for you? He fired his heat vision directly at the host's head, blood splattered all over the studio."

Bu Che Er's tone carried a hint of schadenfreude, "I'll just watch now how Wot Company's PR helps him wipe his ass, that scene just now isn't easy to forget."

—

Outside the train window, countless carriages, countless reflections of herself stretching into the distance in the glass. Xing leaned against the window, that cute pink rabbit suddenly appearing beside her.

"……?"

Xing stared blankly at this strange creature: "Does this unlock a new path?!!"

"Who are you? I am… who am I?" The pink rabbit looked around the carriage, "Gaze, observing. Outside, cold. You… warm. Warm, like."

"Can someone explain this to me?" Xing was the most confused right now; she didn't even know what she had done to be glanced at by Fuli.

"Confusion… same. Answer, unknown."

In midair, Oluonis's voice rang out again; this time its mood seemed to become very pleased: "I finally found… the precious memory. 1 finally… attracted His gaze."