Chapter 43: It's time to face it

In the stronghold of the Lower District, Xi Er finished a day's patrol and collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.

But she sprang up at once—the hunter's instinct let her sense a strange presence in the room.

She quickly locked onto the target: a delicate doll wearing a witch's hat placed on her pillow.

"Who did this?"

She muttered coldly, her weapon already gripped tight.

Having grown up in the underworld, she was extremely wary of any foreign object intruding on her territory.

She carefully examined the doll, looking for possible surveillance devices or poison, but found nothing.

This unknown only made her more uneasy.

She frowned, thinking, "A prank by the Earth Fire members? They don't have that taste."

Xi Er's first reaction was to destroy this potential threat, but when she met the doll's purple-black eyes, she felt a strange resonance—a power hidden in the darkness.

"Hmph, no matter who sent you,"

She tossed the doll into the corner box, but couldn't help glancing at it before sleep, thinking, "I'll have the boss check it tomorrow."

【Star Dome Train - Corridor】

Bai Hang stood outside the door, her snowy fox ears twitching slightly from nervousness.

She took a deep breath, trying to cheer herself up: "It's okay, Bai Hang, just saying hello… Miss A Xing seems hard to approach, but after all, she's a partner…"

She raised her hand and lightly knocked on the door.

"A Xing? Are you there? I'm Bai Hang…"

Inside the door was utter silence, no response at all.

"Asleep? Or not here?"

Bai Hang hesitated a moment, then tentatively pressed the door's open button.

By the authority granted by the Black Curtain Lady, the door slid open silently.

Then Bai Hang froze in the doorway, her azure eyes wide open.

"This isn't a bedroom?"

"This is clearly a mobile combat training ground!"

The space that should have held beds and furniture was emptied, replaced by various glinting, complex training devices—the gravity regulator emitted a low hum, the tension rings' metal chains were tight as bows, and the reaction training balls shot wildly in an invisible force field.

And at the center of it all was A Xing.

Grey hair soaked with sweat clung to her forehead and cheeks; her golden eyes were empty and lifeless, locked on the relentless training targets advancing ahead.

She bore her upper body, bound only with bandages around her chest, wearing simple training shorts below; her muscles stood out in stark relief, every inch of skin flushed red from exertion.

"Hah!"

With a short, sharp shout, she slammed a fist into the heavy alloy target.

"Boom!" The dull thunderous roar echoed in the carriage, and the target visibly dented inward with a fist imprint.

Sweat flew off her vigorous movements, glittering like shattered diamonds in the carriage's cold light.

Her movements were lightning-fast yet carried a programmatic precision, as if she were not training but executing a kill order.

Each punch sent her back muscles rippling like a cheetah's; each kick tore the air with a piercing whistle.

Bai Hang watched, heart pounding, and instinctively covered her mouth.

She had once been Xianzhou's ace pilot, having weathered battles and seen the mighty Cloud Cavalry, but never had she witnessed… a training method purely born for destruction.

This wasn't cultivation; it was more like a mad ritual carving combat instinct into the bone marrow.

She stood in the doorway, neither able to advance nor retreat, utterly stunned by the wild sight.

Finally, she swallowed quietly, deciding not to disturb this overly "hardworking" partner, and carefully prepared to close the door and leave.

But as she turned, she bumped into a patch of shadow.

"Master—!" Bai Hang exclaimed, her fox ears shooting up and her tail puffing out.

Unbeknownst when, the Black Curtain Lady had silently stood behind her.

Those dark, lightless purple-black eyes were now also peering through the door crack at A Xing, drenched in sweat inside.

Even the worldly-wise Heimu's mouth twitched imperceptibly.

She knew this clone had inherited the combat experience of Past World Paradise, but she hadn't expected it to have gone this far in overdrive…

This training intensity would likely leave the original star silent, and Qianjie would give it a thumbs-up.

"Has she… always been like this?"

Heimu's voice remained calm, but upon close listening carried a subtle hint of speechlessness.

"I—I don't know, I just arrived…"

Bai Hang quickly waved her hands, "I saw she wasn't responding, so I opened the door to check, and then…"

She swallowed her saliva and said no more.

Heimu withdrew his gaze, landing on Bai Hang.

"Xi Lian, how have you been lately?" she changed the subject.

Speaking of Xi Lian, Bai Hang's expression relaxed a little, her fox ears twitching slightly: "Xi Lian's doing great! I brought her lots of books and snacks from Luofu, and she seems much happier than before! Though… sometimes she still stares off into the distance in a daze, as if thinking about many things."

Heimu gave a slight nod, said no more, and gestured that Bai Hang could leave.

After the white figure vanished down the corridor's end, she turned and walked silently toward the core area of System Space.

【System Space - Lower Platform】

Xi Lian curled up on a soft, thick carpet—something Bai Hang had somehow picked out from a boutique in Luofu, its edge adorned with cute pom-poms.

Around her lay a dozen or so books, ranging from Xianzhou Legends to star‑geography atlases, varied and many; beside the small side table sat a half‑eaten Mo Mo Roll and a cup of steaming Immortal Joy Tea.

The warm lighting (which Bai Hang had insisted on installing) dispelled the space's original chill and gloom, making it look more like a cozy reading nook than a cell.

Heimu stands in the shadow of the upper platform, leaning on the railing, silently looking down.

Grey-white long hair falls like a waterfall, her violet-black eyes take in the girl's quiet reading silhouette.

Xi Lian occasionally picks up a pastry to nibble, or because of interesting content in the book she slightly curls the corners of her mouth, but deep in her azure eyes there is always a hint of lingering confusion.

(It seems Bai Hang is taking good care of her.)

Heimu silently thought.

But that's not enough.

【67> She knows this tranquility is merely an illusion.

She knew, this tranquility was merely an illusion.

Xi Lian's core remains "imprisoned"; only by obtaining her true "consent" can she be completely freed from it.

It's time to face it.

She takes a deep breath, as if she has made up her mind.

The high heels strike the metal stairs, producing a clear, rhythmic sound that breaks the silence of the space.

Xi Lian is startled by this sudden sound, lifting her head from the pages.

When she sees who has come, her slender body tenses instantly, the book in her hand slips onto the blanket, making a soft "pat" sound.

A flicker of panic crosses her azure eyes, complex emotions surge within—fear, gratitude, confusion.

Heimu walks down the stairs and stops at a distance not too far, not too near from Xi Lian.

This distance neither imposes pressure on Xi Lian nor fails to maintain necessary dignity.

She does not choose to stand, but instead gracefully sits suspended, her skirt spreading like a flower of the dark night, as if an invisible throne supports her.

At this moment, a line of text visible only to Heimu, shimmering with a joyful gleam, abruptly appears in her field of view:

【Yo yo yo, isn't this our ill-fated mandarin duck pair? One up top longing to see through, the other down below anxious and uneasy—truly… so much fun! —Aha Liu】

Heimu's mouth corner twitched uncontrollably, and in her mind flashed the memory of having performed, in front of Aha, over a dozen times the absurd-logic-death "ill-fated mandarin duck" drama meant to "rescue" Xi Lian, only to realize at the end that the performance was completely wrong—an embarrassing scene.

That is practically the dark history within dark history.

She silently gave the middle finger in her heart to the Fun God who knows where watching the fun, "Go enjoy a big serving with your ill-fated mandarin duck," forcibly suppressing the surging embarrassment, and refocused her gaze on the petite pink-haired girl before her.