Chapter 496

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Chapter 496: Beyond the Crack

Open your eyes.

A once familiar scene of bustling scenery.

Flags fluttered, people streamed by, and the scent of the unique Qingyang flower filled the air in Qingyang City.

The girl stood alone in front of the stone steps, looking around. There were no ruined walls, no hundred thousand lost souls.

Only a thriving capital, only smiling faces coming and going, and only such a familiar scene made her doubt her own eyes more than once.

This is the ancient capital city.

What happened?

How did I get here in the blink of an eye?

Nalan Qingshu knew exactly how she ended up here. She thought she would die in the palace, but instead, she didn’t die and returned to the ancient capital city. Is it a cycle of time?

No, it probably isn’t.

It is a dream, a magic dream, just like the brain in a jar.

Perhaps tens of thousands of lost souls created this dream. If they are lost souls, can they really create beautiful dreams?

It was puzzling for her.

While she was contemplating, she suddenly felt a tap on the back of her head.

"What are you daydreaming about?" scolding voices came, "Are you playing here secretly? Hurry up and go to the palace, there are important guests coming today."

"Yes, mother," Nalan Qingshu naturally replied. Just as she finished speaking, she froze and looked at the beautiful woman behind her, who was elegantly dressed and naturally charming. She opened her mouth.

"What’s wrong?" Nalan Jinghuai looked at her daughter, touched her braided hair, and pinched her little cheeks. "Bumped your head?"

"No, no," Nalan Qingshu lowered her head and then silently held her mother’s hand, reluctant to let go. "I…"

"You, silly child…" Nalan Jinghuai sighed helplessly and then firmly grabbed her ear. "Still trying to act cute and seek sympathy? It won’t work with me. Come with me quickly, running wild outside all day, not a trace of being a princess."

"Ouch, Mom, I won’t do it again!"

Nalan Qingshu, who had her ear pulled, felt the pain so clearly and familiarly that for a moment, she couldn’t distinguish between reality and fiction, or rather, she didn’t want to distinguish too clearly.

Even if it’s a daydream, so what? She was already home, this is her home, even if she were to drown in this fictional dream, what could be better?

With her mother here, her father here, and me here, everyone’s here… She held her mother’s wrist and became a child again, returning to that summer of childhood.

…

"I watched an animated short film."

Inside the capital city, Bai Wei purposely walked slowly.

"What?" Murong Nu asked.

"There is an animated short film called ‘Beyond the Cracks’. I won’t explain the background setting of the story as you probably won’t understand. In general, a group of people experienced an accident and found themselves falling outside of a deep bottomless gorge. There, the leader encountered a former lover from the past, and the group realized they couldn’t go back and fell into despair."

"Then did they start fighting and killing each other?"

"No… In fact, the situation is far more desperate than just ‘not being able to go back’. They didn’t land in a gorge, but in a place even more remote and barren than a gorge. Their bodies were already worn out and almost deteriorated, and the lover the leader encountered was just an illusion… created based on their spiritual consciousness. It’s a kind of illusion constructed in their minds."

Murong Nu sneered, "They realized that, and then what? Who did this to them?"

"Well… you can understand it as monsters. This group of monsters is also trapped here. They know that humans can’t survive here for long, so they give them illusions, allowing them to peacefully die in their dreams. It’s a humanitarian act of end-of-life care," Bai Wei explained.

Murong snorted and said, "Where did this holy mother come from? These kinds of monsters should have died out long ago."

Bai Wei couldn’t be bothered to argue and said, "Whether you want to criticize values or not doesn’t matter, what’s important is… we might be in this illusion right now."

Murong shrugged and said, "Can’t you see it? There’s definitely something wrong with Qingyang City."

A child ran towards them on the road and fell down in front of them.

Bai Wei stretched out his hand to help him stand up and brushed off the dust from his body, asking, "Are you okay?"

"Hmm," the little boy shook his head and said, "Thank you, big brother."

He smiled, showing his sunny and pure smile.

Bai Wei patted his head and watched as he walked away.

The little boy’s fading figure, bathed in a pale golden gaze, looked like a half-charred walking dead, each step leaving behind ashes.

Murong Nu asked fearfully, "Don’t you find it disgusting?"

Bai Wei calmly replied, "I only feel sorry for them."

Murong Nu teased, "You have so much sympathy?"

Bai Wei turned to look at Murong and said, "I feel the same way about you, don’t you think?"

Murong Nu almost couldn’t resist giving the other person a huge psychological shadow.

But she held back, then smiled and said, "Yes, I feel sorry for myself, so please give me some money."

…Wow, this person really knows how to sell self-pity, who did they learn it from?

Bai Wei shamelessly admitted his weakness, "I’m very poor and live off others."

Murong Nu mocked, "Living off others? But I see that you don’t rely on Princess Bai Ze anymore. Either you’re physically incapable or you have ulterior motives. How come someone who dares to say everything is now playing with emotions instead of kidneys?"

Bai Wei reluctantly said, "Do we have to talk about this now?"

"The more you try to avoid the topic, the more I want to ask," Muroong chuckled, women do hold grudges.

"I am a person from the Ming Country, so of course I should marry someone from the Ming Country."

"Is it really that simple?"

"Yes, it is that simple."

"That shouldn’t be a reason for you not to plant."

"After planting, you have to continue to take care of it, let it grow and mature. You also have to worry about it growing crooked, and even provide it with a special piece of land for it to reproduce and provide soil and fertilizer for its descendants, generation after generation," Bai Wei murmured.

"You can learn from Nige."

"If you really can’t find a suitable topic, we can just not talk about it," Bai Wei said.

"What should we say then? Walking among a bunch of lost souls, my heart trembles with every step. Have you considered that each step forward brings us closer to hell? There are tens of thousands of lost souls." Murong Nu tried to make a lighthearted joke, but deep down, she felt anything but relaxed. She had mentioned having a special ability to see through illusions, and in her eyes, the true nature of the entire city was revealed.

"You’re wrong." Bai Wei shook his head and kindly suggested, "Maybe you should try turning back."

Murong turned around and instantly felt a chill run down half of his heart.

They had only walked a couple of miles into the city, but the road was already filled with an astonishing number of lost souls.

They stood there, motionless. Their bodies contorted, their faces twisted. They burned silently, whimpering and howling until they were extinguished.

Murong Nu shivered and instinctively hugged her shoulders.

Bai Wei spoke slowly, "We are not getting closer to hell, we are already in hell. Ask the Buddha why he sits upside down, sigh at how living beings dare not turn back."

"You’re doing this on purpose!" Murong Nu couldn’t fully grasp this Zen phrase.

"Want to try prying into my personal matters again next time?"

…

Nalan Qingshu and her mother played and ran towards the palace, her father was a noble and also Bi Fang.

Before the downfall of the country, the line of Bi Fang was not too worn out. There were a total of five Bi Fangs in existence.

The lordly level Lord Bi Fang was only her father.

After Nalan Qingshu was all dressed up, she entered the grand hall and shouted towards a familiar figure, "Father!"

The man who was preparing and giving instructions turned around. He had strong masculine features and green hair. He didn’t exactly have the appearance of an emperor, but he was certainly like a noble who enjoyed the company of his people. The power of a generation of demon kings was as solid as a mountain.

The man smiled and said, "Qingshu, it seems like your mother brought you back."

Nalan Qingshu couldn’t help but pout, and as she approached, she recognized the furnishings and various items in the hall. She asked, "Father, what are you preparing for?"

"We have an esteemed guest coming," Lord Bi Fang explained. "You should prepare yourself as well and remember not to be disrespectful."

Nalan Qingshu walked up to the objects and glanced at the list – Xiangliu, Qiongqi, Ba Xia, and Tiaowu… presents?

Why are there so many presents here?

She continued to read and caught sight of the date… it was February 2nd.

Dragon Raising its Head on February 2nd… the day Qingyang City was destroyed.

Her heart trembled, a sense of impending doom was coming true.

This wasn’t a dream of loved ones coming back to life, but an ongoing nightmare!