Yan Wei leaned against Yan Mingguang.
Though tired, he still managed a smile. The malevolence had orchestrated this entire scene, aiming to attack the deepest concerns in his psyche and make him feel powerless. But now, all their efforts had come to naught. The malevolence must be seething in the shadows, right?
He would eventually reduce that thing to ashes.
Had nothing been preserved?
Even during his first Ascension, he had successfully cleared the top instance. The unexpected event had only occurred when he was about to exchange for Pandora’s Box.
In his panic earlier, he had worried that Xu Miaomiao might be in danger because of him. But now, calm and reflective, he could only sneer.
Starting over, the previous failure had deepened his fear of defeat, but hadn’t his previous unstoppable momentum also deepened the malevolence’s fear of him? Otherwise, why would it have specifically descended into the instance to pull off such a stunt?
The one truly afraid was the malevolence born from the Tower.
It was scared.
So why should he be afraid?
Yan Wei had completely calmed down now, understanding the crux of the matter.
Yan Mingguang still held him, providing the strength to stand. His embrace was tight, his breathing less steady than usual. Earlier, outside, Yan Mingguang’s urgent words urging him to come out had all reached Yan Wei’s ears.
“Teacher Yan,” his voice was soft, almost a whisper, drowned out by the rumbling of the train, like the low murmur of a cat.
He chuckled softly, “Do you have so little faith in me?”
Yan Mingguang simply said, “No.”
“I can vouch for that, Yan Mingguang isn’t lacking in faith in you,” Lin Qing suddenly interjected, serious. “He said it himself outside; he didn’t want Xu Miaomiao to owe you a favor, probably to prevent the girl from being grateful to you.”
Yan Wei: “…”
Xu Miaomiao said faintly, “I’m still here.”
Yan Wei: “……”
Xu Miaomiao’s gaze lingered on Yan Wei. On one hand, she felt it was somewhat disrespectful to stare, but on the other, she recalled the previous interactions with Yan Wei with a complex mix of emotions.
It was indeed impossible for Lin Qing and Ding Xiao to lower their guard so much for a newcomer.
But if it was for him…
It made perfect sense.
She also fully understood why Ding Xiao had said “rely on” Lin Qing and the others. Ding Xiao wasn’t referring to Lin Qing, who was of the same period as her, but to Yan Wei, who appeared to be a newcomer but was actually a legend in the Tower World, an insurmountable peak.
She wasn’t stupid. If she still didn’t understand what was going on, she might as well have not climbed to the 89th floor.
Yan Wei took a moment to recover, the feeling of suffocation finally disappearing. He patted Yan Mingguang’s arm, signaling him to let go, and stood up straight, asking Xu Miaomiao, “How’s your injury?”
Xu Miaomiao, who had been looking at Yan Wei, now met his gaze and stammered, “It’s… it’s fine…”
Yan Wei frowned, “You don’t sound fine?”
“…” Xu Miaomiao forced a smile, “Just a minor injury. I just…”
She hesitated, though she knew it was unnecessary to ask, she couldn’t help but say, “Am I too close to see the bigger picture? You were right in front of me all along, with so many signs, yet I didn’t realize…”
Yan Wei raised an eyebrow, finally understanding the complexity in Xu Miaomiao’s expression.
He said, “…I didn’t intentionally hide it?”
Xu Miaomiao: “?”
“I thought Ding Xiao had already told you, and you didn’t ask.” As Yan Wei listened to Xu Miaomiao’s words, a vague thought began to form in his mind.
But before it could fully take shape, he noticed something else was amiss.
“So it’s my fault?” Xu Miaomiao felt a mix of respect, fear, and frustration. She didn’t even dare to call Yan Wei “brother” anymore, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, “Sister Ding didn’t say—”
Yan Wei abruptly interrupted her, “Where’s Ding Xiao?”
The four of them stood in the corridor, a sudden silence falling.
The light from the flashlight inside the room spilled into the corridor, casting a faint halo on the floor, reflecting the shadows of the four people. The corridor was eerily quiet, with endless train cars stretching in both directions.
Lin Qing said, “She seems to have never come out.”
Before the words could settle, the four of them quickly moved to the sleeper compartment where Yan Mingguang and Ding Xiao were staying tonight.
In the earlier chaos, everyone’s focus had been on this room, with no time to care about anything else. Now, as they approached the sleeper compartment, they realized that the sliding door Yan Mingguang had opened when he rushed out had somehow closed. Inside, it was completely silent, with no extra movements.
In the deep night, the sound of rain enveloped the surroundings like boundless darkness.
Yan Mingguang pulled Yan Wei behind him without a word, stepping forward to open the sliding door and enter.
Yan Wei staggered back, knowing that without the ability to resurrect, he wasn’t suited for the front lines. He immediately took out the Moon Wheel from the Black Ring, holding it in his hands. Lin Qing also quickly drew a completely black longbow, and the bone staff in Xu Miaomiao’s hand emitted a faint black light.
The soft white light from the Moon Wheel illuminated the scene inside.
Yan Mingguang stood by the sleeper bed, slightly bent over, looking at the lower bunk soaked in blood. His expression was calm, showing no emotion.
Ding Xiao lay on the lower bunk.
A bloody hole, the size of a woman’s wrist, pierced through the center of her neck. Blood gushed from the wound, staining the white sheets and her pale cheongsam. Ding Xiao’s eyes were still open, indicating that the incident had been sudden.
On the floor were scattered white powder, remnants of shattered items.
Yan Mingguang said, “She’s dead.”
Xu Miaomiao trembled, nearly dropping her bone staff.
Lin Qing held her, “Only two people can enter the sleeper compartment at night!”
Xu Miaomiao’s face turned pale, “Sister Ding…”
Yan Wei was also stunned at the door.
“How? Ding Xiao…” he whispered, “What triggered the danger for Ding Xiao?”
Yan Mingguang crouched down, examining the wound closely, “The width of the rolling pin in the dining car’s kitchen—it wasn’t a ghost or monster, it was Li Mao who did it himself. She looked into the retrospection and saw something Li Mao didn’t want anyone to see.”
Yan Wei was silent.
The sudden death of a companion in an instance was a normal occurrence. Even if he hadn’t asked Ding Xiao to look into the retrospection, she would have done so eventually. Ultimately, he wasn’t at fault. He and Ding Xiao weren’t exactly friends; he had once saved her life, but he didn’t owe her anything.
Yet, these causes and effects were intricately linked to him, as if without him, none of this would have happened.
If he hadn’t attracted the malevolence, which amplified Xu Miaomiao’s death trigger, he wouldn’t have rushed into her room. If he hadn’t rushed into her room, Yan Mingguang wouldn’t have left Ding Xiao. If Yan Mingguang had stayed, along with Ding Xiao’s strength, she wouldn’t have met such a silent end.
That thing had gone to great lengths to break his psychological defenses.
But Yan Wei didn’t want to give it the satisfaction. He was determined to climb step by step to the top of the Tower, to reduce that ever-present malevolent force to ashes.
He took a step forward, stopping at the sliding door, clutching the Moon Wheel in his hand.
Xu Miaomiao suddenly collapsed to the floor.
The train’s corridor was filthy, covered in dust and dried blood, instantly dirtying her pants. But she was beyond caring, her eyes red as she stared at Ding Xiao’s body. She opened her mouth, and after a moment, said, “I wish it had been me who got hurt. In my eyes, Sister Ding was always so strong… I never imagined she would meet such a silent end.”
Yan Wei glanced down at the Moon Wheel in his hand and said, “…I can save her.”
At the same time, Yan Mingguang spoke, “There’s still a bit of consciousness left, not completely dispersed.”
Xu Miaomiao’s head snapped up.
“Not me, specifically,” Yan Wei took a deep breath, calmly stating, “but the Moon Wheel can save her. Yan Mingguang, let me go in. After these two waves tonight, plus the two on the Death List, too many have died. If more die, the instance will become unbalanced, and there shouldn’t be any more dangers.”
Yan Mingguang silently stepped out.
Yan Wei, holding the Moon Wheel, walked up to Ding Xiao’s body.
Their perception had been sealed, but they weren’t completely ordinary people; they could still sense that Ding Xiao’s consciousness lingered. Ding Xiao was no weakling, and she hadn’t been dead for long, so she wasn’t completely gone.
This remaining consciousness was a part of Ding Xiao’s soul that still existed.
As long as this part of the soul existed, the Moon Wheel could work its magic.
“The Moon Wheel is a Legendary Item I pieced together from fragments of other Legendary Items. It represents fusion and infinite possibilities. The reason I’ve been able to create so many Legendary Items is because of the infinite possibilities the Moon Wheel provides. The part of Ding Xiao’s soul consciousness that remains can be cut out before the main body dies.”
As he spoke, the Moon Wheel floated up from his palm, slowly hovering above Ding Xiao.
“Theoretically, anything can be fused or cut. If more fragments were added to the Moon Wheel, it could even fuse the entire world. But with my current abilities, piecing together the Moon Wheel from five fragments is my limit. Any more, and I would risk triggering the Tower’s restrictions. So, cutting out this consciousness—I can’t forcibly fuse it into the Moon Wheel. I need a vessel.”
The light from the Moon Wheel grew brighter, illuminating everything around them, dispelling the darkness and filth.
Above Ding Xiao’s body, a transparent medium began to appear, and as the air fluctuated, these substances slowly gathered together.
Yan Wei turned to the girl kneeling by the door.
He smiled, his eyes curving, his gentle features bathed in the soft white light of the Moon Wheel, taking on a deep, soothing quality.
“Don’t you know Puppetry? Use your bone staff to summon a puppet made with Ding Xiao’s attributes,” he said slowly. “This skill doesn’t involve using the Body Index or Perception, so it shouldn’t be sealed, right?”
Xu Miaomiao was taken aback, then shook her head.
Still kneeling by the door, she raised her bone staff, and a faint black light began to emanate from its tip.
The next moment, the black light separated from the staff and rose. The Moon Wheel rotated, and the transparent substance also condensed into a palm-sized mass, moving towards the black light.
The black light collided with the substance sent by the Moon Wheel, and in the silence, a puppet landed on the ground, standing in front of Xu Miaomiao. She was dressed in a cheongsam as white as the moon, her hair neatly tied up, her expression gentle.
She looked down at Xu Miaomiao, “…Miaomiao?”
Xu Miaomiao suddenly understood why everyone who knew V referred to him as an insurmountable legend.
