Chapter 1786: Waiting for the Evening Breeze

"They've all been transferred away by the people of the Ruoshui Bastion." Lin Xi handed the newspaper to Li Shangfeng,

"Schools organizing students to go out on study tours, factories sending workers out for labor services, and all kinds of unbelievably cheap tour groups... The residents currently in the Ruoshui Bastion should be less than half of the original population."

Li Shangfeng took the newspaper, and seeing the densely packed cheap tour groups on it, instantly widened his eyes in disbelief.

Setting aside whether travel projects should be published in mainstream newspapers, the prices marked on here were simply unbelievable... The amount an ordinary family would spend on four or five meals could actually sign up for a luxurious seven-day tour of the South Sea Prison?

Even Li Shangfeng himself couldn't wait to sign up and give it a try.

"These kinds of tour groups are definitely operating at a loss, and a massive loss at that." Lin Xi spoke calmly. "Behind this, it must definitely be the Ruoshui Bastion and the Chengtian Dynasty paying to subsidize."

"But... why would they transfer people away? The Ruoshui Bastion's emergency shelter popularization has already been done very well. If it was just to deal with occasional Calamity Invasions, there shouldn't be a need to go to such great lengths... Even if they send people out, they can't not come back, right?"

Lin Xi glanced at Li Shangfeng. "This, is the most serious problem..."

"You mean..." Li Shangfeng also seemed to have guessed something.

As this sentence came out, the bench instantly fell into a deathly stillness.

Even if the Chengtian Dynasty had already faded the existence of the Eight Lords in the hearts of the masses, the Dusk Society members couldn't possibly not know that domains existed relying on the Eight Lords' Domains... Frequent Gray Realm Convergences and large-scale transfers of the masses could only be explained by the imminent demise of the Ruoshui Bastion.

"No wonder they made us lie dormant in the Ruoshui Bastion at this time..." Li Shangfeng muttered to himself. "So, it was to conduct a funeral for the Domain, and encoffin the Lord of Ruoshui?"

"This should be the Dusk Society's first funeral mission. I didn't expect that right after we joined, we would run into it." Lin Xi sighed.

Even someone as fearless as Li Shangfeng inevitably felt somewhat nervous at this moment... This was an entire Bastion, such a massive city with a population of several million. In front of it, any individual seemed too insignificant. Could they truly conduct a funeral for it easily?

Li Shangfeng, a good resident who had lived on a certain remote street in the Lin'an District of the Chengtian Domain for more than twenty years, for a time couldn't imagine what the scene of conducting a funeral for a Domain would be like.

Whether Li Shangfeng or Lin Xi, both were somewhat silent at this moment. They still needed some time to accept the reality that a Domain was about to be destroyed... After all, in the past several centuries, this kind of thing had never happened before.

The bench was quiet and soundless.

On the other side of the park, behind the fluttering white doves, a group of figures resembling a children's choir sang in unison. Their crisp and clear voices, accompanied by the sound of an accordion, echoed in the sky above the park.

"——Little paper boat, rowing its oars, traveling to the ends of the earth, to different sides."

"——Bamboo dragonfly, landing on the eaves, old companions, heading to distant places."

"..."

Li Shangfeng turned his head to look at Lin Xi: "What are you thinking about?"

"If what we are witnessing is truly the final dying moments of a Domain... then it indeed is somewhat different from what I imagined." Lin Xi looked at the tranquil park and the bustling city in the distance that seemed to be asleep, slowly opening his mouth,

"There is no panic, no unrest, no killing each other... It's clear that whether it's the Ruoshui Bastion, the Chengtian Dynasty, the Fire-Stealers, or our Dusk Society, everyone is crowded here, and everyone knows that the life of this Domain is about to come to an end, yet no one is provoking flames of war at this moment... Everyone is just watching quietly like this, it's as if..."

Lin Xi paused for a long time before continuing to speak,

"It's as if..."

"Everyone is watching an old friend leave."

Li Shangfeng blanked out.

Clatter——

A young couple smiled and sprinkled a handful of corn kernels. The sky full of white doves flapped and flew up once again, their feathers falling gently amidst the singing.

"——Little disputes, all forgotten, small awkwardness, all turning to frost."

"——Holding hands, gazing by the window, waiting for the evening breeze, to deliver serenity."

"——White doves, spreading their wings, circling the twilight light, towards the firmament."

"——Breeze gently blowing, brushing the wheat waves, human realm at peace, years stretching long."

...

Ruoshui Base, deep within.

Faint bubbles slowly rose from the Hibernation Pod.

Under the dim light, that figure hanging upside down in the Hibernation Pod, having slept for over three hundred years, unconsciously frowned slightly...

Immediately after, an extremely faint coughing sound rang out from the deathly stillness:

"...Cough."

...

"Cough cough cough cough..."

Continuous and weak coughing sounds rang out in the room.

"Marquis!"

Carrying a bowl of medicinal soup, Jing Si had just walked through the door when he saw that aged figure sitting by the bed, coughing violently. He lost his color in shock and immediately stepped forward.

"Marquis, are you alright? Hurry... hurry and drink the medicine first."

Compared to three days ago, the current Marquis Wei was already withered like a candle in the wind. The continuous precognition made him seem as if he had been hollowed out, his entire person visibly weak.

He coughed to the point where he couldn't speak for a time, slowly taking the medicinal soup. Only after finishing it did his complexion improve slightly.

"Marquis, you cannot continue anymore." Jing Si was incomparably anxious. "If this goes on, I'm afraid you really..."

Marquis Wei waved his hand, gesturing for him not to continue speaking.

Jing Si hesitated to speak.

Marquis Wei sat by the bed for a long time, his gaze looking through the bedroom door towards the front hall...

The tea table for treating guests was quietly placed in front of the wide open main doors. The preserved fruits on the table had already been replaced with a new batch, and the tea in the pot remained warm under the roasting of a small fire. On the incense table beside the table, a pile of incense ash scattered across the entire basin.

Three days had already passed, yet still no guest had stepped through that door to come visit.

"Jing Si... the incense is extinguished, go light a new one for me."

Marquis Wei spoke hoarsely.

Jing Si froze. He turned his head to glance at the incense table covered in thick incense ash, unable to help but open his mouth:

"Marquis, it's already been three days, and the person you are waiting for still hasn't come... do you really want to continue?"

"Continue."

Marquis Wei merely replied with two words, and didn't say more.

Jing Si obediently went to replenish the incense, then cleaned up the empty medicine bowl, and bid farewell to the Marquis to leave.

Wait until the room once again fell into quietness, Marquis Wei glanced at the pendulum of the clock on the wall, taking a deep breath... He forcibly pulled himself together and activated the Path of Divination. Incomparably profound markings spread within the nothingness around him.

Time passed minute by minute, and as Marquis Wei's Spiritual Power was continuously consumed, the flashing frequency of those markings also became faster and faster...

Crack——

Suddenly, a blue light bloomed out of thin air from the nothingness, shaking the surrounding profound markings to pieces!

As if some kind of power overriding all Paths of Divination autonomously swept across the nothingness at this moment, Marquis Wei violently opened his eyes, and a mouthful of scarlet fresh blood sprayed out!