—Wu Yi, birth and death unknown, leader of the Divine Realm Rebellion.
If you open a history book, that’s all you’ll find.
Everything about the girl who appeared like a flash of lightning is shrouded in mystery.
So much so that even the God-King couldn’t threaten her by targeting her friends or family—he had no idea where to begin.
“At last…”
Luo Ye knelt on the ground, inching forward toward the glowing white orb like a pilgrim in worship.
That was where it all began.
The foundation of Wu Yi’s very being.
The original force that had driven her to slash her way through thorns and thrones, to sever the head of the God-King himself!
What kind of grand idea, what burning hatred, could have forged such a titan?
“Let me… let me feel it, just once…”
With trembling reverence, Luo Ye reached out and cupped the milky-white orb in her hands, more gently than she had ever touched anything in her life.
Hm… it felt light in her palms, almost weightless.
She lifted it to her face.
At that moment, the power of the Nightmare surged to its peak.
She pushed her perception to the limit, carefully immersing herself in the dream sealed inside the orb—
This dream, buried deep in Wu Yi’s heart, had shaped her entire life.
“Hsss—”
She took a deep breath of the orb’s aura.
Soft white wisps flowed into her nose, transforming into thoughts and impressions.
The feeling was so strong, so vivid, that Luo Ye blurted out the meaning without thinking:
“I really want to eat grilled squid!”
……
Silence fell, sharp and abrupt.
The Nightmare’s tail curled into a question mark.
She frowned and inhaled again—this time deeper.
“I really want to eat grilled squid!”
“……”
“That’s it?” Kaflu raised a single brow, staring at Luo Ye with open disbelief.
That’s it.
The most primal desire, sealed in the depths of Wu Yi’s heart, the force that had driven her to slay the God-King… was just that simple.
She just wanted grilled squid.
Utter silence.
Only a crushing, hopeless silence remained in the sealed chamber.
“This… this can’t be…”
Luo Ye fell apart.
She had pursued the truth all her life, longed for this answer for years—only for the truth to arrive and be… this painfully mundane.
Even childish…
But this was Wu Yi we were talking about!
“The reading must be wrong. I don’t believe it! It has to be—”
Trembling, Luo Ye lifted the orb again, hoping to feel something more.
But the orb slowly floated up on its own, morphing into the shape of a tiny squid.
It swam through the air, its tentacles gently opening and closing. It circled around Luo Ye’s head once—then swam over to Kaflu.
It looped around her as well.
Just as it was about to swim away—
“Ahm—!”
With lightning speed, Wu Yi opened her mouth and chomped the little squid down in one bite.
“…That’s not edible! Spit it out! Hey!”
Gulp.
She swallowed.
Luo Ye stared at Wu Yi in disbelief.
“Buurp—”
Wu Yi gave a satisfied pat to her belly, though her expression looked a little disappointed.
“Not that great.”
You ate Wu Yi’s dream and still look disappointed?!
“Be good, spit it out,” Kaflu said helplessly.
But Wu Yi just clutched her stomach, her eyelids drooping heavily. She collapsed weakly into Kaflu’s arms.
The vision faded. The voices of Kaflu and Luo Ye grew distant, more and more muffled, until they disappeared entirely.
When darkness fully swallowed her vision, a new light emerged to wake her.
With it came a memory—long buried, so old even she had nearly forgotten it.
……
“Wu Ye, once we finish moving this batch, big bro’ll take you to see the world.”
“…Okay.”
Exhaustion filled his small body.
Wu Ye dragged his skinny frame, lifting a crate even bigger than himself onto the shelf.
He was seven years old this year—a laborer.
Because his father had been a laborer, he too was born one… though he’d never actually seen his parents.
That’s just what people told him.
Wu Ye had no right to question it.
He could only obediently sell his strength in exchange for a meal.
“Let’s go.”
The sallow-skinned young man grinned with excitement.
He grabbed Wu Ye by the arm and led him to a small hut by the sea.
The hut stood right on the shoreline, where no one ever visited.
Probably because the seawater stank.
The God-King’s barrier had cut off the flow between nearshore and open sea, turning the waters around the land into a stagnant cesspool.
Over centuries, the waste and refuse produced by life failed to decompose in time.
It all accumulated in this fetid pool, rendering the coast a filthy wasteland.
The sea turned black as ink, and the stench was unbearable.
“Look, look!”
The young man lit a candle inside the hut. The faint glow pierced through the smoke and darkness, illuminating an excited face, a bewildered one, and the rotting bookshelves around them.
He opened an old sheepskin book.
It was a picture album.
Despite the passage of time, the colored ink on the pages remained vivid and lifelike.
In the candlelight, a page depicted a vast blue ocean.
A small white sailboat rode the waves, while seven or eight sharp-nosed fish leapt from the water nearby.
“What’s this?” Wu Ye asked.
“This is the sea!” the young man replied.
“You’re lying. Sea water is black, and there are no fish in it.”
“The book says the sea is blue.”
“You’re not blind. Can’t you see for yourself?” Wu Ye pouted.
The young man didn’t argue. He simply turned the page.
Now the image showed a sunny sky above and deep sea below.
Beneath the shimmering blue waters was a vibrant world — a reef forest made of colorful stones, teeming with fish, shrimp, and other lifeforms Wu Ye didn’t recognize.
The book had once belonged to a researcher. Every creature had handwritten labels identifying their names.
Among them was a peculiar animal with ten tentacles and a pointed cap on its head, labeled: Squid.
“What a strange-looking fish.”
“Yeah, it looks weird, but the book says it’s really tasty,” the young man said, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
Though older than Wu Ye and having worked a few more years, he still couldn’t fill his belly.
Any mention of food made his hunger flare.
“How could anything from the sea be edible?” Wu Ye frowned, the stench from outside making him gag. “It’s disgusting.”
“But what if? What if the sea wasn’t always like this?”
“But it is like this now.”
“You’re no fun. I thought you’d be amazed and start shouting or something.”
“I’m hungry, big bro. I haven’t eaten all day.”
“All you ever think about is eating,” the young man muttered, annoyed, reaching to flip to the third page.
Suddenly, flames flickered outside the door.
The clatter of armor and the heavy thud of boots sinking into mud shattered the night’s silence, announcing exactly who had come.
“It’s the Divine Court soldiers! Shit!” The young man trembled with panic. “Wu Ye, hide—quick!”
“Divine Court soldiers? Why should we hide? We didn’t do anything wrong…”
“I don’t know either, but these books… something about them feels off. I have a bad feeling.” He shoved Wu Ye under the bed. “Scoot over, we’ll squeeze in together…”
“The candle! You forgot to put out the candle!”
The young man rushed to snuff the flame.
The very moment darkness returned, the door burst open with a crash.
He dove under the bed just in time.
“This the place?” a rough voice asked.
“This… this is it.”
A ragged prisoner was dragged into the room.
He paused slightly when he saw the book on the table.
“Someone’s been here,” he said, closing the book. “This shouldn’t be left out like that.”
“Who came?” barked a soldier.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t play games!”
Thud!
The soldier kicked the prisoner behind the knee, forcing him to kneel.
Groaning in pain, the prisoner looked up.
And in that moment, his eyes met the two pairs of eyes staring out from beneath the bed.