Volume 4: Twilight Galaxy
Shu Xun continued to point at the section Gray had written about the invaders. “Based on what Meng Muyu mentioned earlier, the invaders of this world are the same force as those in “Winter’s End”. But it seems more than that—they’re also the ones who invaded the Celestial Feather Galaxy, forcing the Phantom Clan to migrate quickly. In Qing Meng’s painting, the invaders manifest in two forms: one is a black cloud hovering over the city, and the other is the black butterfly. However, Qing Meng was fond of the black butterfly but strongly repelled by the black cloud. The reason is simple: the invaders in the black cloud had a grotesque appearance and caused the immediate death of the natives in “Winter’s End”, while the black butterfly could guide her to another perfect world, which made Qing Meng develop two distinct feelings toward the invaders.”
Lie Yang finally pieced together the factions of the invaders. “I get it now. Qing Meng couldn’t clearly describe the appearance of the invaders. After all, even we find them disturbingly awkward and hard to describe in words. For someone as young as Qing Meng, it would be even harder to explain. So, she simply used the more straightforward imagery of a dark mass to represent the invaders. That black mass she saw, similar to a black cloud, is actually a formless entity, like a shadow, which explains how the invaders can merge into the shadows of the Twilight Clan. But why do the natives of “Winter’s End” die instantly upon invasion, while the natives of Twilight Galaxy only have changes in their shadows without any apparent harm to their lives?”
Shu Xun tapped the cup rhythmically with his little paw. “Maybe it’s due to their evolutionary stages, or perhaps the world consciousness in this world has a worse temper. We need more information about the Twilight Clan and more hints from the world consciousness. Tomorrow at dawn, we’ll head to Zhu Si City. There should be a wealth of books in the city’s academy. The place where the gods are worshiped might also reveal some prophecies from the world consciousness.”
There was actually much more information hidden within the holographic footage Meng Muyu sent to the chat. Beyond the comparison between the Twilight Clan and the “Winter’s End” natives, there’s also a comparison between the Twilight Clan and the Phantom Clan. If in the Twilight Galaxy, the invaders aren’t immediately obliterated by the world consciousness, what happens to their bodies after death? Will they, like the Phantom Clan, have their appearance altered post-mortem? The one connection between these three races is the same invader, yet they all exhibit different symptoms. These differing manifestations are the key to understanding the relationship and differences between the three races. If this can be unraveled, they can almost certainly deduce the link between the invaders and the Phantom Clan.
But this reasoning requires a deeper layer of logical deduction—it’s not as simple as planning three steps ahead. These relationships extend infinitely and must connect at the right points to form a network, eventually leading to the truth. Lie Yang hadn’t thought of this yet, so Shu Xun didn’t mention it. After all, even the current clues were enough to keep Lie Yang occupied for a while.
In addition, just as the audience had observed, Shu Xun also noticed something odd in the holographic footage: the natives showed almost no reaction, or extreme indifference, to their companion being reduced to ashes. Shu Xun had only been in this world for less than a day, and with such a short time, he didn’t want to rush to conclusions. But so far, he indeed felt a peculiar sense of detachment among the natives.
This feeling doesn’t manifest clearly in everyday interactions, but it becomes apparent during certain events. For example, when Qing Kong was judged, the surrounding natives watched with expressionless faces. Or, outside Qing Kong’s residence, those discussing the situation—even familiar neighbors—only offered brief remarks. Throughout this time, Shu Xun and his companions never heard anything about Qing Kong’s parents, but the surrounding natives seemed to find that completely normal.
On this single day, walking through Xing Chui Town, everything seemed perfectly normal, yet there was an unsettling sense of wrongness beneath the surface. For instance, families were rarely seen on the streets. Even when two acquaintances walked side by side, they maintained a highly elegant demeanor. The natives of this world seemed like they were born aristocrats—never showing a single misstep in their gestures. But it was precisely because of this that Shu Xun felt out of place as if the emotions of the people here had faded. They appeared to have converted all their emotions into faith, leaving only devotion to evoke any genuine emotional response.
This thought instantly reminded Shu Xun of a certain cultivation method, one that severs all worldly emotions and desires, forgets all mundane attachments, and pursues only the Dao with a heart devoid of feeling, seeking only immortality. Shu Xun wasn’t sure if his guess was correct. As for the Twilight Clan’s evolutionary path, they only knew so far that it was centered around blood, with little knowledge about other aspects.
In the room, the little fluffy ball had already cleaned up the low table and tea cups and then flopped onto the big bed. However, the room felt too quiet. After a while, Shu Xun realized why—it was because he had gotten used to Ye Jian being nearby. The overly quiet room was simply because Ye Jian’s breathing was missing.
Feeling restless, Shu Xun rolled around the bed several times, eventually burrowing under the pillow. After a long while, a faint snoring sound came from beneath it.
At dawn the next day, the three of them packed their belongings and left Xing Chui Town. In this world, short-distance travel was mainly by foot or horseback, while long-distance travel utilized flying animals. For even farther distances, there were teleportation arrays, though these were mostly set up in main cities, and the conditions for using them were quite strict.
Since all three of them had the ability to fly, they didn’t need to use the flying animals of Wu Shi City. Also, given that Gray had once shown his face in Wu Shi City before, although the last time the person called Mu Yang didn’t pursue the matter, they couldn’t guarantee that no one else in Wu Shi City would recognize Gray. To be safe, after some discussion, the three decided to bypass Wu Shi City and head straight for Zhu Si City, gathering information along the way from the towns they passed through.
After leaving Xing Chui Town, the three of them followed a path toward the distant mountains. Xing Chui Town remained bustling and noisy as always. Once their figures disappeared into the mountain ranges and they confirmed there were no issues, they applied cloaking talismans and swiftly soared into the sky, speeding toward their destination.
Along the way, they passed through various towns, occasionally stopping to rest and gather information. Eventually, they confirmed that the phenomena in Xing Chui Town weren’t just a coincidence. The natives of this world indeed had a strong preference for the scent of blood. Whether it was food or drink, there was always a lingering taste of blood. Additionally, the more prosperous the city, the more devout the people’s faith seemed to be. However, as their faith grew stronger, their other emotions became even more subdued. Even among neighbors in the cities, emotional connections were extremely faint.
Perhaps it was due to the cloaking talismans, or maybe they were just lucky, but in nearly half a month of traveling like this, they hadn’t attracted the attention of the world consciousness. That day, they arrived at a mid-sized city near Zhu Si City called Qi Yu City, just around noon.
In a restaurant, the three sat in the public area. Unable to adapt to the Twilight Clan’s dietary habits, they pretended to eat the food on their plates, secretly transferring it to their storage spaces. While faking their meals, they listened to the surrounding conversations. Surprisingly, next to them was a family of three. Due to the Twilight Clan’s infinite lifespan, the birth of new life was extremely rare. Throughout their journey, they had rarely seen young Twilight Clans, and this was the first time they had encountered a family unit.
The atmosphere between the family of three seemed completely normal, much like what they had seen in most of the world—no excessive closeness, relatives maintaining a graceful distance, speaking in low voices, laughing softly. It was quite warm and pleasant.
In addition to this, what intrigued the three even more was that tonight, Qi Yu City’s central square would host a baptism ceremony, the same type of ritual shown in the holographic footage that Meng Muyu had uploaded earlier. Over the past half month, Shu Xun and the others had learned more about these baptism rituals.
In this world, only highly talented priests could initiate the baptism ceremony. Bathed in white light, all disguises would be revealed. Those who had been transformed would immediately be struck down by divine punishment, while the natives who hadn’t been transformed would have their abilities enhanced, with a chance to unlock special powers.
In this world, where devotion reached its peak, receiving the baptism was seen as divine favor. Everyone would voluntarily attend. If someone avoided it and was discovered by the natives, they would be handed over to Wu Shi City for investigation.
Baptism ceremonies were rare. In the past half month, this was the first one they had encountered since they began traveling. However, they were unaware that in this world, whose evolutionary level was not inferior to the Five Great Races, the baptism ceremony that dispelled all disguises also applied to game players! This meant that, aside from humans and the Phantom Clan who shared similar forms with the Twilight Clan, other races like the Beast, Spirit, and Zerg Clans, who retained some racial traits, would reveal their true forms under the white holy light.
In the live stream at that moment, when the audience learned that there would be a baptism ceremony in Qi Yu City that night, they immediately grew anxious.
“I’ve already witnessed countless game players get exposed in the holy light and be kicked out of the game by the world consciousness. I’m ready to watch Lie Yang and Gray meet their end!”
“Coming over from other streams. I saw streamers getting caught off guard by the exposure and being forced to log out.”
“Look at Shu Xun and the others. They clearly have no intention of leaving. They’re obviously going to check it out! I’m so nervous!”
“Shu Xun should be fine, but our King and Gray’s antennae and wings can’t be hidden! Is this the end of my King’s undefeated journey?”
