Chapter 136 123: Ashen World

In her eyes, the entire room began to rewind in time.Light traversed the swirling gray dust, all the mycelium started to grow backward, the piano keys moved in reverse, and the furniture returned to their original positions.

"Why is she just standing still?" A Tuner outside the door asked.

"Miss Bai's mind ability, don't disturb her."

In the eyes of the two Tuners, the room looked no different from before, still presenting an appearance of gray decay.

Bai Nian'an stood in place.

Her mind was filled with countless memories that did not belong to her.

The warmth in front of the fireplace, the joy of completing a piece of art, the praise from peers, the smile of a kindergarten teacher.

The scenes of two men during their childhood in a foster home flashed before Bai Nian'an's eyes like flowing light, quickly passing by.

One day, the woman who had always taken great care of them in the foster home suddenly went mad, and was shot dead by arriving Tuners. Like a small interlude in a score, it became a turning point in the two boys' destinies.

On a pitch-black snowy night, a man approached the two crying boys at the woman's grave, promising them everything.

Bai Nian'an struggled to see the man's face, but could only see a pair of dark red pupils.

Later, they graduated with the best grades, entered the Starry Arts Academy, became student council members, and cultivated a broad network of contacts and societal resources, interacting with others kindly on the surface.

Secretly, they donned the robes of the Ascetic, brainwashing more people to join the Ascetic Sect and initiated terror attacks with sect members.

Until shortly before their deaths, they were still involved in high-level student council meetings concerning matters about the Ascetic Sect itself.

Bai Nian'an's brow furrowed tighter and tighter, and before she could make sense of things, her perspective returned to the room.

They seemed to have been attacked, their injuries were severe, one of them had half his chest pierced through, with a missing left arm, and small dense white flowers were growing from the wounds.

Bai Nian'an mused that this kind of white flower emitted an aura she seemed to have sensed before on that previous blonde girl.

The other one's spirit was driven directly into madness, peeling off his own skin while alive in the room.

At some point, a sea of white flowers blossomed in the room, withering moments later, and their bodies were devoured by dense strands of mycelium, resulting in decay.

The mycelium grew as rapidly as bamboo shoots after rain, filling the entire room.

Bai Nian'an quickly rewound time further back.

The world in her eyes shattered and reassembled.

Under the broken firmament.

Two Ascetics walked through a sea of flowers, as a gentle breeze passed, the soft petals swayed slightly, large swathes tilted following the wind's path, scattering white fluff, falling with the pervasive gray dust.

Despite these flowers blooming everywhere, the two could not sense any vitality; the entire world seemed to be left only with a silent pallor.

"Ascetic D31, how long has it been since we last came here?" asked Ascetic D12.

"Twelve days."

"I mean, here."

Ascetic D31 pondered for a while, then said, "719 years, 343 days, 11 hours, 5 minutes, and 5 seconds."

"How did it become like this?"

"I didn't see art; I only saw decay and death."

"Not sure."

Before them stretched an endless wilderness, ashes from a fire floated haphazardly in the air, resembling scorched earth ravaged by warfare, and the air was filled with a thick scent of gunpowder.

They started to wander this pale world, walking on this gray, abandoned land.

There were no bustling cities, skyscrapers, streets, or any signs of civilization ever existing.

"The Heart of Desire?"

"Not sure."

"Even such beautiful life, will it ultimately wither away with time?"

They traversed gully valleys, dried-up riverbeds, through mountains and plateaus, until after an interminable time, they returned to this deathly still plain.

"What a world devoid of beauty," Ascetic D31 sighed. "I thought I could witness true art."

"I've started to find it boring, truly disappointing," Ascetic D12 began to turn away, but suddenly, seeing something, he grinned a smile mixed with joy, fear, and madness.

A vivid blood flower bloomed on his chest, his heart bursting open!

The splattered blood fell like red paint, adding a second color to the gray-white canvas.

The blood dripped onto the white cluster of flowers, and time seemed to freeze at this moment.

"Ascetic D12!!" Ascetic D31 shouted.

His comrade made no sound, falling to the ground, the flowing blood dyeing the Other Shore Flower below him red.

Looking around in terror, Ascetic D31 wanted to find the enemy who attacked them, but in the end, he stood there dazedly.

From the Other Shore Flower emerged a girl, her silver hair brushing her boots, an intricately patterned lance lightly brushing the flowers, she was like the master of this world, the source of all the decay, withering, and deathly aura.

In his eyes was the girl's slightly dim eyes, the chaotic tendrils within her body filled with desire's hue, and that raised gun tip slowly aiming at him.

"Beautiful, so beautiful," Ascetic D31 murmured in a trance. "So you're here."

Another blood flower bloomed on his chest!

The world gradually darkened, turning blood-red.

Gaze fervent, he desperately crawled towards that girl exuding the aura of decay, withering, and death, his fingertips wanting to touch her shadow, until the last moment, he and his comrade's bodies caused a spatial distortion around them, vanishing into thin air.

The girl picked up the items they left behind.

An invitation letter with wings and gilded lettering, and a family ball invitation.

"A ticket," she murmured, "Star of Art?"

Suddenly, as if sensing something, she slowly turned her head: "You..."

"Who is it?"

Bai Nian'an's mind went blank with a buzzing sound, an unprecedented sense of crisis made every cell in her body wildly signal warnings, watching as the girl's hand slowly reached towards her. At the last moment, she suddenly severed the consciousness link, pulling herself out of the state of mind reconstruction.

She opened her mouth to breathe heavily, then coughed violently, covering her mouth, blood continuously seeping out through fingers from her nose and mouth.

The two Tuners outside the room saw the girl's unusual appearance, hurriedly rushed in, and supported her body.

"Miss Bai!" "Are you okay?"

Bai Nian'an pressed against the wall, taking a long time to break away from that dizziness, then glanced back at the room with slightly trembling pupils.

"Go..."

"Go, leave here, report to the association, quickly report to the association."

The two Tuners watched Bai Nian'an, who seemed lost, muttering something unintelligible, stumbling out of the room.

They exchanged a glance, each seeing confusion in the other's eyes.

Since returning from the Tuning Institute a week prior, Xu Xiaoyou had been feeling persistently listless, unable to muster interest in anything, as if everything had lost its meaning.

Even the most savory dishes tasted like wax in her mouth, suffering insomnia day and night, occasionally experiencing palpitations.

Under Tang Xin's coercion and temptation, she went to the Life Daylight clinic but found no mental illness; the doctor with a beaked mask only advised her to eat regularly, sleep well, take more walks, and avoid excessive mental stress.

She tried to follow the doctor's advice, going to bed early and getting up early, eating regularly, and taking walks with Tang Xin every day, but the feeling did not fade, instead growing increasingly intense.

At this moment, that feeling burst forth, reaching its peak, a strong dizziness and nausea made her head swell, making her feel like the whole world was spinning.

She braced her hand on the washstand, her stomach churning.

Her gaze focused, a blood-stained die was vomited from her mouth.