Chapter 171: No, I don't know you, but I know—you will come!

No, I don't know you, but I know—you will come!

"There's one question I never asked, but I'm genuinely curious about it.

Just before we step into the finish line, let me confirm something with all of you.

What exactly do the Whisper Petals you've been talking about look like, and what do they do?

Don't let us get there and waste time simply because we can't recognize the thing."

Cheng Shi knew when to show off and when to be humble; he looked toward Ji Yue and Fang Fang Shiqing, waiting for an answer.

The Torch did not speak; the flame flickered a few times, then turned toward the Veil.

The Veil trembled for a moment, then murmured:

"To be honest, I have never seen any description of the Whisper Petals or the Whisper Fruit in any official experimental records of the Substance Tower.

You know as well as I do that, under the current circumstances, no text could possibly leak out of Gasmelra.

History will not change because of our arrival; the Conjugate Whisper will be buried in a great fire, and every record of it will burn to ash.

Among the limited historical sources, I only found one account that fits it reasonably well.

It comes from a sacrificial hymn recorded by a certain tribe of the Chaotic Epoch, which describes the appearance of the Whisper Petals and Fruit.

The text reads:

'O tree that blooms beneath the vault of heaven, bearing flowers of purest white, reflecting the inverted image of the void, and yielding fruit of pitch-black hue.

Yet the flowers shall still wither, and the fruit shall one day fall, just as upon that great parasol that veiled all light, the fire of world's end was kindled.'

Though the wording is vague, members of the Historian Faction generally believe this is the clearest description of the Conjugate Whisper's petals and fruit.

Because that tribe originally belonged to 【Chaos】.

They were born in the early Chaotic Epoch; their ancestors were very likely among the Knights of the Doom Bell who took part in the extinction of Gasmelra.

Building on this line of thought, we conducted a detailed investigation into the tribal histories of the early Chaotic Epoch.

At that time 【Civilization】 had just ended, and many of its customs were carried into 【Chaos】; so in the early Epoch there still existed some scattered, fragmentary 'histories.'

The Historian Faction found two recorded uses of the Whisper Petals in total, but not a single record concerning that fruit.

Of those two uses, one is exactly what I need... the 'Twin Elixir'!

The other, I think, we—not the Historian Faction's we, but the Fire Bearers' we—perhaps don't need.

That would be the 'Shadow Oath Elixir.'

An oath elixir that binds one's shadow to the petal and swears an oath of eternal loyalty."

As she spoke, Ji Yue looked toward Cheng Shi, her face full of anticipation.

"With the Mask as guarantee, using the only two petals to make a single Shadow Oath Elixir would be far too wasteful. Better to make two Twin Elixirs and let my soul split once more, so that...

our Fire Bearer research progress will be greatly accelerated."

"..."

"..."

"..."

She even wanted to split herself again.

Cheng Shi listened, at a loss for words; he neither answered nor could answer, and only in the silence did he subtly shift his peripheral gaze toward Fang Fang Shiqing.

Though this Fire Bearer's Kindling-Seeker was perfectly composed, that faintly flickering flame had clearly frozen for an instant the moment Ji Yue uttered the words "Shadow Oath Elixir."

So... the Fire Bearers were after this thing!

No wonder.

Because they had nothing like an Oath Mask, and the Oath Mask itself had never truly existed.

It was something Cheng Shi had fabricated from 'offerings consigned to the void'—a false thing that could not endure in the world.

Granted, it worked, but its effect could only guarantee that the five who swore the oath at present would not betray the new 'Fire Bearers.'

After that, however, it could never serve as an oath object for anyone else.

Because offerings consigned to the void cannot be preserved for long.

And for those who wished to survive, carefully and cautiously, the grand undertaking of opposing 【the Divine】, it was only right that the true Fire Bearers should want an extra layer of assurance.

But this also suggested that the Fire Bearers had perhaps run into trouble—no, or rather, had run into trouble before.

It made them uneasy about a Kindling-Seeker invitation system that relied on a single person, and made them doubt whether the virtuous and orderly would never commit betrayal.

Thus, they turned their eyes toward the Whisper Petals, which were so terribly hard to obtain.

"Mm, white flowers, black fruit.

Now that we know what the flower looks like, it's time to set out.

Scholar, would you honor us by using the radiance of 【Truth】 to light our way?"

The black veil bled a steady stream of blood.

"I couldn't wish for more!"

The moment the words fell, Ji Yue strode boldly into the mirror and vanished from the others' sight.

"..."

This woman... if she keeps researching like this, she won't end up converting to 【War】, will she?

Her personality's already starting to match...

Cheng Shi had intended to go second, but the Prisoner stepped forward first; before he could even lift his foot, the man resolutely plunged in.

This ever-silent "new Fire Bearer" used this gesture to express his determination to fight for the Fire Bearers.

Stone followed right after; Little Bird first dove into the spider web, then stepped in as the fourth.

The Torch...

The Torch flickered several times, and a thousand words condensed into just two:

"Thank you."

Cheng Shi gave a whistle, saying little:

"Remember to bring something practical."

With that, he finally beat the others to it and didn't end up last.

Fang Fang Shiqing was briefly stunned, then followed him in with a smile.

The instant Cheng Shi stepped into the Peering Glass, a breath of nothingness spread out. Though his consciousness sank into darkness, this time the sensation was far better than before.

No pulling force, no urge to vomit—he felt as if he'd opened a parachute high in the air, drifting down slowly and steadily until his feet touched the ground.

The moment he "had solid ground beneath his feet," his vision lit up again.

Cheng Shi instinctively retreated half a step, held the scalpel horizontally in front of him, and squinted as he carefully surveyed his position.

To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure where within the experimental field his patron had transmitted him to.

Still, he could guess—the spot beneath his feet was bound to be where the fun was greatest.

But where the fun was greatest also meant the risk was greatest.

So Cheng Shi dared not be anything less than cautious.

Yet after he looked around, he saw not a trace of danger.

Not only that—he didn't see any teammates either.

The few teammates who had gone in before him had all vanished.

In this spacious laboratory of glass curtain walls, dense conjugate-whisper foliage filled the surroundings everywhere, and before him, beyond countless pieces of equipment and notebooks, there was only one...

A grey-haired scholar in glasses.

Hearing the movement, he turned around, and the look in his eyes as he regarded Cheng Shi held no trace of surprise.

That look of quiet satisfaction was as if he were seeing an old friend he hadn't met in years; in those bright eyes there was anticipation, there was sorrow, there was emotion, but never once confusion.

This was very abnormal.

He knew I would come?

Why?

And who was he?

Cheng Shi's fingers quietly slipped toward the 【Death】 Fun Ring, and he cautiously retreated another step.

And it was at this very moment that the grey-haired old scholar spoke.

"You've come."

"Who are you?"

"Oh, look at my memory—I forgot to introduce myself.

I am Kevi, a scholar of the Tower of Qualities, a fool in pursuit of truth, and also, probably, the last person in charge of this crumbling Void Mass-Energy Laboratory..."

Kevi?!

Cheng Shi's pupils contracted sharply.

He hadn't expected that the name he'd just heard would appear before him only minutes later.

This inescapable sense of fate...

Was it a bit too strong?

"You... know me?"

"No, I don't know you, but I know you will come!"

"?"

Countless thoughts flashed through Cheng Shi's mind, and the speculation about 【Fate】 he could no longer suppress burst out of him:

"Was it He who told you?"

Kevi gave a slight nod, a devout light glimmering in his eyes.

"Yes, it was He."

Huh?

What's going on?

The great scholar of the Tower of Qualities, the helmsman of the Conjugate Experiment—was actually one of 【Fate】's people?

What kind of script is this?

Cheng Shi was dumbfounded.

"You... how could you be one of His followers..."