Chapter 26: Hard to Untangle

Black Curtain Lady stood before the newly coalesced doorway; a chill far more biting than that of Xi Lian's place seeped through the crack, even making her nonhuman body feel a hint of icy stiffness.

She frowned slightly and pushed the door open.

The sight beyond the door took her breath away.

It was a huge ice cavern, the omnipresent, seemingly timeless deep-blue ice constituting everything.

Countless ice spikes hung from the ceiling like inverted swords.

And at the center of this ice cavern, within the largest piece of transparent dark ice, a figure was sealed—Bai E.

At this moment he was frozen in the deepest layer of the ice.

His eyes were tightly shut, his face bore a frozen calm, yet his posture was not peaceful but carried a sense of shattered struggle, as if he had still been trying to break free right up to the moment of sealing.

This was not a complete seal, but rather a grim instant of solidification.

However, what was even more heart-stopping was below.

Black Curtain Lady's gaze moved downward; beneath the transparent ice under her feet lay not solid ground but… a mountain‑like pile of more "Bai E".

Countless bodies identical to his in appearance and attire, like discarded broken dolls, were piled haphazardly beneath the deep ice abyss.

Some were missing limbs, some had blurred faces, some appeared as if scorched by fierce flames…

They lay there silently, forming a soundless yet extraordinarily grim tableau.

The freezing chill seemed to carry the aura of despair accumulated from countless cycles of reincarnation and failure.

Black Curtain Lady's fist clenched silently, her knuckles whitening from the force.

She silently averted her gaze, no longer looking at that shocking "graveyard," turned and left this place that belonged solely to Bai E, the tragic ending repeated countless times.

The next room was filled with a fierce, killing intent.

Here there was no ice, only a barren scorched earth.

And at the center of the scorched earth, a tall, burly figure was pierced through the spine from back to front by a massive sword condensed from pure darkness, pinning him firmly to the ground.

On the sword flowed an ominous crimson pattern, throbbing like a living thing, continually drawing the host's vitality.

The figure bowed his head, his face obscured; only the huge sword revealed the extreme pain and bondage he endured.

Black Curtain Lady's mood grew heavier; she practically hurried past as if fleeing.

The third space was an endless expanse of azure ocean.

The sea was calm and waveless, presenting an eerie beauty.

And at the ocean's center, an elegant woman—Ke Lv De La—was silently floating on the surface.

She closed her eyes, her visage peaceful, as if asleep.

Yet a formless blade was lodged in her chest, the wound continually oozing golden‑yellow blood like an inexhaustible spring.

That golden blood slowly diffused through the surrounding seawater, like an ever‑expanding tragic watercolor, staining a vast area around her with brilliant yet sorrowful gold.

Tranquility and cruelty formed a shocking contrast at this moment.

Black Curtain Lady's lip twitched slightly; a sense of helpless rage and sorrow welled up in her heart.

She sighed helplessly and pressed on, having almost braced herself for whatever horrors lay ahead.

However, the next room defied her expectations.

Here there were no terrifying seals, no bloody punishments.

It looked… more like an excessively clean single‑person cell.

The four walls were smooth white material, unadorned, with only a cold white light overhead providing illumination.

A green‑haired figure wearing… a blue‑white striped garment stood with its back to her, crouched in the corner of the room, shoulders slightly twitching, unsure what it was doing.

"Na Ke Xia?"

Black Curtain Lady's heart stirred; she recognized that striking green hair, and inexplicably a flicker of relief rose—at least this one appeared unharmed, not tortured like the previous ones.

She had previously used abstract videos of him to scare Xi Lian; seeing his actual self seemingly unharmed now gave her a kind of "conscience‑found" comfort.

But… the style of the clothing he wore seemed increasingly familiar…

Those blue‑white stripes, a loose yet uniform style…

A subtle unease began to spread in her heart.

It seemed disturbed by her gaze; the crouching figure moved a little, then… slowly, with an indescribable stiffness, began to turn its head.

Black Curtain Lady instinctively held her breath, fearing that the turned face would be shattered.

Fortunately, the face was normal.

It was the likeness of the wise scholar Na Ke Xia, his features delicate, his eyes even quite calm.

Black Curtain Lady was just about to exhale in relief—

but Na Ke Xia had already fully turned to face her and slowly… stood up.

He was wearing a Psychiatric Uniform!

Just moments ago, while squatting, it hadn't been obvious, but now standing up, this attire utterly opposite his scholar demeanor sent Black Curtain Lady's unease to its peak!

Then, at the moment Na Ke Xia came to a full stand—

"Thud! Scratch! Thud! Scratch!"

A strongly rhythmic electronic music burst forth without warning in this cell!

The music was filled with inappropriate cheer… and abstraction!

Immediately after, behind Na Ke Xia, like a glitching projection, several virtual images of Earth Beasts flickered into view!

And the green‑haired scholar, amidst this devilish music pouring into his ears, kept his calm, expressionless face, yet his body suddenly launched into a frenzied, twisted dance that utterly defied physics and ergonomics!

His arms flailed as if broken, his waist spun like a top, his legs crossed in kicks; each movement brimmed with extreme "performance art" feeling, perfectly matching the deafening music.

Black Curtain Lady's pupils contracted sharply; her whole body froze as if struck by lightning.

This dance… this music…

This is clearly the content of that abstract second‑creation video she used to fool Xi Lian into watching before!

But… that was just something she casually dug up from her past‑life memories for fun!

No one even told her… that this thing is actually a documentary?!

Watching the scholar renowned for reason, with a blank face, dancing there like a source of spiritual pollution, Heimu felt her nerves and reason crying out under the strain.

Compared to the horrors she'd seen before, this was harder to accept—a bone‑deep, subversive shock to the very foundation of cognition.

""

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Finally, the Black Curtain Lady stumbled and nearly fell as she turned, shoved open the door she'd come through, and fled the place that felt worse than any torture chamber to her.

That bewitching music and dance seemed etched into her mind, impossible to shake.

Returning to the pure white System Space, Heimu rested her forehead, feeling utterly exhausted in both body and mind.

One gruesome scene after another, and that final shocking abstract image, replayed alternately in her mind.

The system doll stood silently to the side, its cross‑shaped eyes flickering once, as if analyzing her violently fluctuating emotions.

【73) It timely offered her a cup of Energy Relaxant, then, with its flat electronic tone, tried to soothe her:

It timely offered a cup of Energy Relaxant, then used that calm electronic tone, attempting to soothe:

"Madam, please don't worry too much. The way data projections are displayed can sometimes look… unusual due to distortions in the core concept. Just as on the Astral Express, we never worry about being late."

Heimu instinctively replied: "Why?"

System doll: "Because we are 'pioneers', not 'procrastinators'."

Heimu's hand, holding the cup, froze mid‑air.

She slowly turned her head, her violet‑black eyes fixed unblinkingly on the system's unchanging face.

"…Did you just crack a cold joke?"

The system doll tilted its head slightly, data flowing calmly in its cross‑shaped eyes: "Ms. Hui, this is merely an adaptive comfort attempt based on the newly logged 'Communication Assistance Database'. The data source is noted as coming from the Astral Express bar, the usual corpus of the bartender known as 'Shut Up'. Analysis shows such language patterns can potentially ease the atmosphere in certain situations."

Heimu: ""

She expressionlessly drained the cup in one gulp, then slammed it back into the system's hand.

"Next time," she said, her voice icy and irrevocably resolute, "don't imitate it."