It was a dead embryo.

Yu Sheng didn't know how to explain this judgment—because he had no corresponding knowledge or experience to determine whether the grotesque "lump of flesh" in front of him was dead or alive. No one knew what physiological characteristics the Angel's Embryo should have. To put it bluntly, the answer had already appeared in his mind the moment he saw this lump of flesh.

He knew this thing was dead. No breathing, no blood flow, no thoughts, no soul. From the beginning, there was no possibility of it ever "being born and growing up as a living being."

But this thing was growing bit by bit. It was difficult to see with the naked eye, but it indeed was growing. Yu Sheng even felt he could hear the subtle "sounds of growth" inside it, like tiny bubbles bursting. This dead Angel's Embryo was getting slightly larger every second, preparing for birth.

Yu Sheng simultaneously observed the death state and growth process of this eerie entity. He felt incredibly contradictory and confused, unable to understand whether the information flooding into his mind was the "truth" he had realized or knowledge forcibly instilled by Anka Aela. He stood frozen in place for a long time, trying to process the conflicting information in his consciousness, until Anka Aela's voice entered his mind again—

"I can't see it very clearly. This situation has persisted for a long time."

Yu Sheng raised his head and looked at the severed umbilical cord extending from the dead embryo, floating in mid-air.

He heard the voice in his mind continue, calm and gentle, without any trace of brutality or malice: "Our connection... is very weak. This is an ancient fault. Long ago, during those wandering days, this fault had already occurred. I am not sure of its current state, but I have been striving to supply it with nutrients—my creator said this is my most important task.

"You are there, you have your eyes, you can see it, right?

"Can you tell me, is my child okay? Has it... grown up?"

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, took two steps forward to the lifeless "fetus," and cautiously closed his mouth again.

He didn't know what effect his answer might have, but he knew that the gentle and friendly voice... was a Dark Angel.

So he cautiously remained silent and tried to perceive the other party through the connection between him and Anka Aela, hoping to gain some initiative.

However, the calm, low voice abruptly broke the silence.

"...It is already dead, isn't it?"

Yu Sheng felt his heart skip a beat, instinctively taking a deep breath and standing taut in place.

After that, Anka Aela maintained a long silence.

No one knew what this ancient, bizarre mind, beyond rational understanding, was thinking.

After an unknown length of time, Yu Sheng suddenly moved—he reached out to the dead Angel's Embryo.

The dead Angel's Embryo was also a "dead entity."

But what could a "dead entity" that never lived, never thought, and died before birth convey to him? This empty shell had no mind or soul; what could it reveal in a "conversation"?

Yu Sheng didn't know, but he wanted to talk to this "child"—if that was really possible.

Darkness descended.

Unlike any previous communication with the dead, Yu Sheng did not see the grotesque lump of flesh before him make any movement, nor did it open its eyes or mouth—the only thing that came was darkness and emptiness.

But in the center of this endless dark emptiness, something seemed to faintly emit light.

Yu Sheng walked towards that faint light and saw what it was.

His eyes changed slightly, but there was no great surprise in his mind—it was a book.

An old, worn-out book, as if many children had leafed through it countless times—a storybook titled "Squirrel Knight Takes You to Read Stories."

Yu Sheng looked around. In this ultimate void darkness, this storybook was the only thing.

After a slight hesitation, Yu Sheng bent down, carefully picked up the storybook, and opened it.

The book was full of writing.

Just as the squirrel said, the book was filled with children's wild stories. The poorly printed segments missing, blank pages everywhere, were covered with various childish handwriting, pinyin, doodles, and abstract lines. Many so-called "stories" consisted of only two or three sentences, making no sense and hard to understand. Probably even those who wrote them would not understand their bizarre thoughts upon looking back.

Yu Sheng slowly flipped through the pages, and then he felt something.

He looked up, but still saw nothing but darkness around him. In this void space, apart from himself, there was only the storybook in his hands.

However, Yu Sheng frowned, that vague "feeling" still lingered around him. He carefully discerned this weak "presence" and thoughtfully looked ahead.

There was a "listener" here.

He couldn't see it, couldn't hear it; he knew that it hadn't even been born into this world yet. Theoretically, there should be nothing in this darkness—but there was a listener here.

The little listener is ready, it's story time now.

Yu Sheng held the fairy tale book, exhaled softly after a moment, and sat cross-legged in the darkness.

He knew what to do now.

Yu Sheng carefully opened the worn-out book to the first page, then cleared his throat—

"A long, long time ago..."

...

The dark tower in the distance, constantly spewing demons, collapsed with a roar—it had collapsed for the third time tonight. The demons flooding out from the tower were almost instantly turned to ashes by the thunder summoned by the Titan.

Little Red Riding Hood panted heavily, one hand gripping the wreckage of an armored vehicle beside her, the other covering the wound on her arm. She peered through the gap in her bangs at the situation on the battlefield.

The Red Dragon descended for the fourth time, plummeting straight towards the Prince's air defense position. Further away, the Near Guard Knight Order was repeatedly fighting over a vantage point with the Red Queen's soldiers.

The Wolf Pack weaved through the smoke, darting from one shadow to another, continuously assassinating the witches that infiltrated between the positions and trenches, or relaying distant intelligence back to the command post hastily set up by Dorothy.

The Black Forest had been entirely reduced to scorched earth, and every inch of it had been burned at least twice.

The mermaid was still playing the BGM.

Perhaps the Dream Realm had distorted everyone's sense of time. Little Red Riding Hood now almost believed that this war had been going on for months, even years.

But then she suddenly realized something: the collapsed Dark Tower did not regenerate as it had done previously.

On the distant battlefront, the dead witches did not reappear from the air.

As time passed, everyone on the battlefield noticed these obvious changes.

The King was the first to notice. He swiftly jumped onto the wrecked armored vehicle of Dorothy's army, stood up, and gazed into the distance. After a long while, he looked down at Little Red Riding Hood, somewhat uncertainly, and said, "The enemies really seem to be decreasing—the Knight Order is eliminating the last batch of soldiers."

Little Red Riding Hood blinked. She didn't know what had happened, but after a moment, as if a distant memory suddenly surged to the current node of time, she abruptly raised her head, looking at the giant crack now visible to all, quietly standing at the center of the Black Forest.

Above the Black Forest, the massive shadow cast by Anka Aela was slowly retracting back into the crack.

...

"...Later, they all lived happy and joyful days."

Yu Sheng slowly finished telling the last part of his memory and gently closed the book.

There was no response in the darkness.

Was there really a listener here? Did "they" really exist? Did these stories really make an impact?

Yu Sheng was actually uncertain. He just wanted to try, and now he had tried.

So he stood up again, quietly standing in the darkness, waiting for some change to occur.

He waited for a long time, until he was almost losing patience, when he barely heard an almost hallucination-like sound—a faint laugh, like that of a baby, giggling.

Yu Sheng wasn't even sure if he really heard it, and he had no time to confirm because almost at the instant the laugh appeared, the surrounding darkness silently collapsed.

In just the blink of an eye, he found himself back in that mist-filled, color-stripped "illusion," with the bizarre and lifeless "Angel's Embryo" still lying quietly in front of him, and his hand still poised on its surface.

The next second, he saw countless fine lines appear on the surface of the Angel's Embryo, lines that quickly spread and split, covering it entirely in a blink, and then it collapsed.

Without making any sound, it silently turned into fragments in front of Yu Sheng, then rapidly turned into sand, into dust, into particles finer than dust, until it disappeared into the air.

Yu Sheng's eyes widened. He didn't know what was happening, and for a moment he was at a loss, then he heard a voice in his mind, Anka Aela's calm voice sighed—

"...So, my mission is over."

Yu Sheng frowned, just about to say something, when he noticed the thin mist around him suddenly raging violently!

Colors returned, the mist dissipated like a dream in the blink of an eye, and before Yu Sheng's eyes, a chaotic array of colors and lights appeared. He then felt himself falling rapidly through a passage, falling continuously, feeling as though he had been falling for years, and then he briefly lost consciousness, feeling like he landed somewhere—what should have been a fatal impact felt like he was being cradled by something, finally touching the ground lightly.

The dizziness and chaos in his mind made it impossible for him to open his eyes for a moment. After a while, he heard a noise like tinnitus in his ears, someone shouting his name, then a furry sensation on his face, and a slightly damp feeling.

Yu Sheng opened his eyes, seeing a large red-brown tail appear in his view.

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