Chapter 121: A Strange Nightmare

Liyami slowly opened her eyes, but as soon as she took in her surroundings, she froze.

The scene around her was nothing like the “Yiqiu” Labyrinth—instead, it was a vast expanse of murky darkness.

Although Liyami didn’t know what this darkness was, she instinctively realized she absolutely couldn’t touch it. If she did, nothing good would come of it.

But where exactly was this? Wasn’t I just in the “Yiqiu” Labyrinth? How did I end up here?

Liyami stared around, growing more and more confused. Just moments ago, she’d been with Colin and the others fighting the “Endless Faller,” so how had she suddenly arrived in such a pitch-black place?

At that thought, Liyami suddenly remembered something: Right! What happened at the end of the battle? Was the “Endless Faller” taken care of?

Liyami tried hard to recall everything from before. Fortunately, in her memory, Colin had successfully finished charging up and landed a hit on the “Endless Faller.” The enemy had vanished afterward, so it seemed Colin had taken care of it.

With that, Liyami breathed a sigh of relief, but her confusion only deepened.

If the “Endless Faller” had already been dealt with, then why was she here now? Did something else happen afterward? But why couldn’t she remember anything at all?

Liyami had no memory at all of what happened after defeating the “Endless Faller.” Her memory cut off right when the “Endless Faller” disappeared—it must’ve been when she fainted. Most likely it was from exhaustion, plus being wrapped up in the “Endless Faller’s” pitch-black tentacles.

But none of that explained why she was here now, nor why everything around her looked like this.

Looking at everything wrapped in that murky darkness, Liyami was completely baffled.

At that moment, Liyami noticed the murky darkness ahead of her suddenly begin to dissipate, as if something was about to emerge from within it.

Liyami immediately tensed, wanting to draw her “Twin Moons” just in case. Only then did she realize that not only could she not draw “Twin Moons,” she couldn’t move her body at all—at some point, she had become completely paralyzed. Just a moment ago, she hadn’t been like this.

Confronted with her predicament, Liyami quickly realized the reason. She had lost the ability to move at the exact moment when the murky darkness in front of her began to fade, which meant—was it something inside that soon-to-be-revealed darkness that was causing this?

Watching as the darkness was almost completely gone and the figure within it gradually became clearer, Liyami tensed up even more. There was nothing she could do now—if the other party had any bad intentions, she could only sit and wait for death!

But as the darkness fully disappeared, Liyami was stunned. The figure who emerged from the darkness was someone she knew all too well.

“President?!”

That’s right, the person emerging from the murky darkness was none other than the President of the Shadow Veil Society—Aiwei!

Why was the President here? No, wait. Did the President bring me here? But why? Because I failed my mission? But didn’t I already tell the President how difficult it was to assassinate Colin? She shouldn’t be this impatient… Unless there’s something else…

Liyami’s thoughts suddenly stalled as she remembered the mission she had carelessly forgotten. Last time she’d been in contact with the President, she’d been assigned a new mission to make up for her earlier failure: to retrieve something called the Yiqiu Seed. But now, she had forgotten about it completely!

So was it because of this that the President brought me here? Oh no, what should I do? I completely forgot about it! Is she going to kick me out of the Shadow Veil Society in a fit of anger? Or maybe even make me atone by taking my own life!

Thinking this, Liyami couldn’t help but become anxious. She cautiously raised her head, sneaking a glance at the President from the corner of her eye. But when she did, she noticed something serious.

The President in front of her… didn’t seem to be the real President? Not that she’d mistaken the person—the figure before her looked exactly like the President, wearing the same black cloak and having the same build.

Although the person’s face was obscured by her lowered head and the cloak’s hood, Liyami was certain she looked identical to the President. Still, something felt off. She had a gut feeling that this wasn’t actually the President, but… something else?

But whatever the truth was, it was just a feeling and did nothing to help her current situation. Liyami still couldn’t move, and ever since that figure had appeared from the murky darkness, she hadn’t made a single move either. What in the world did she want?

With the scene frozen and the air growing awkward, Liyami was just about to say something to break the silence when she noticed the other person finally moving.

Liyami tensed up at once. Whether or not this was the President, it didn’t change her predicament. All she could do was hope the other party didn’t mean her harm.

As Liyami was hoping this, the figure—who looked like the President—slowly lifted her head, fixing her gaze right on Liyami. Then, she did something that utterly baffled Liyami—she smiled at her.

To be precise, Liyami couldn’t even be sure if it was a smile. The “President’s” lips merely curled up at the corners ever so slightly—it was hard to say for certain if she was really smiling.

But Liyami just felt it: the “President” was smiling at her.

The feeling was as inexplicable as when she’d sensed that the person wasn’t really the “President,” and yet she couldn’t help but trust it, even though she couldn’t explain why.

Just as Liyami was about to ask the “President” what it all meant, her eyelids suddenly grew unbearably heavy, as if they would slam shut at any moment.

Though Liyami mustered all her strength to fight it, it was no use—her eyelids kept drooping, and soon, they would close again.

Just as Liyami’s eyelids were about to shut, she noticed the surrounding murky darkness surging toward her, as if trying to engulf her as well.

The sight shocked Liyami awake—she jumped straight up from the ground, startling Lavinia, who had been caring for her at her side.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Why did you suddenly jump up like that? Did something happen?”

Seeing Liyami spring to her feet, Lavinia quickly asked, still shaken. Liyami’s behavior was clearly unusual, and Lavinia didn’t want anything worse to happen now.

At the sound of Lavinia’s voice, Liyami finally realized there was no murky darkness anywhere—she was still in the “Yiqiu” Labyrinth, and everything just now must have been a nightmare.

Looking at the now familiar surroundings, Liyami gradually calmed down.

After settling down, and thinking back on everything that had just happened, she even mocked herself a little: How could I have such a dream? Could it be that what the “Endless Faller” did to me at the end left some lingering effects? Is that why I had such a nightmare?

Maybe that really is the case. It’s not like that could’ve been anything but a dream, right? That’d be impossible.

Thinking of that possibility, Liyami couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head, deciding not to dwell any longer on such a meaningless nightmare.