The group decided to continue on.
They arrived at a barren plain.
At first, only the color of the ground changed. The withered yellow grass grew sparser, revealing the grayish-white soil beneath.
As they walked, the grass disappeared entirely, leaving only a pale wasteland underfoot.
White Night looked down at the soil beneath her feet.
This wasn’t ordinary soil. It was mixed with countless tiny bone fragments, a mottled color.
They crunched underfoot.
“These bones…”
Mu Yingying kicked a larger bone fragment with her toe.
The fragment tumbled, revealing a skull half-buried in the dirt.
The skull didn’t look human; it resembled a dog, but with a closed third eye on its forehead.
“Not human bones,” White Peace said.
“They’re Weirdness bones.”
Her bare foot stepped on a bone fragment, making no sound. The fragment split automatically under her sole.
“This place is called the Bone Wasteland. It used to be a battlefield.”
Her voice was flat, as if stating an old fact.
“A long time ago, two high-rank Weirdnesses fought over territory here. They battled for three days and three nights.”
“In the end, neither won. Both died.”
“Their bodies rotted, toxins seeped into the soil, and after that, only bones remained. No grass grows.”
“The pollution from their deaths won’t dissipate for centuries.”
“Are there living Weirdnesses here?” Little Frost asked.
“Yes. But not many, and they don’t attack proactively.”
White Peace’s tone became a bit more serious.
“They hide under the bone piles during the day and come out at night. Not to attack, but to absorb the life force of living things.”
“Then we—”
“We must get out before dark.”
Everyone quickened their pace.
Mu Yingying muttered to herself as she walked.
They walked all afternoon, and still there was no end to the grayish-white soil in sight.
The bone fragments became denser. Occasionally, they could see complete ribcages sticking out of the ground.
Huge vertebrae were half-buried underground, linked one after another.
These were the remains of those two lord-level Weirdnesses.
Hundreds of years had passed, and their bones had not yet fully decomposed.
White Peace walked at the front, her pace noticeably faster than before.
Her bare feet stepped over those massive bones, making no sound at all.
Her white hair fluttered in the wind, and her skirt was coated with a layer of grayish-white bone dust.
The sun was setting.
The sunset over the Bone Wasteland was different from elsewhere. The evening light reflected off the grayish-white soil and bone fragments, casting a bleak, cold glow.
“How much farther?” Mu Yingying’s forehead was beaded with sweat, not from heat, but from tension.
Her instincts were screaming at her. The Smooth Gold Coin in her pocket was also heating up, warning her that this was not a place to linger.
White Peace’s pace quickened again.
“It’s about to get completely dark,” she said.
“Can you feel it? The things underground are already stirring.”
White Night extended her Perception. Sure enough, there was an extremely subtle vibration in the soil beneath her feet. It wasn’t an earthquake; it was something waking up. Her Soul Body shrank back.
After walking for about another quarter of an hour, the ground ahead began to change. The grayish-white bone soil gradually darkened—first to a dark brown, then black.
The bone fragments disappeared, replaced by hard rock.
They had reached the boundary of the Bone Wasteland.
Ahead lay a huge rift valley.
The four of them stepped out of the Bone Wasteland just before the last ray of sunlight vanished.
Behind them, the grayish-white wasteland became blurred in the twilight.
White Night looked back. On the surface of the Bone Wasteland, something was writhing, undulating slightly.
The things that had hidden under the bone piles during the day were waking up.
White Night looked away. She didn’t look again.
The rift valley lay before them, about a hundred zhang wide and bottomless.
The cliffs on either side were steep and barren, covered only with gullies carved by the wind.
The wind rising from the valley floor wasn’t ordinary cold; it was a kind of chill that could seep into the soul.
White Night could feel faint remnants of resentment in the wind. That resentment didn’t belong to any one person; it was a product of countless people being ground down and mixed together.
It had become part of the wind.
Every gust that brushed past made her Soul Body tremble slightly.
“Soul-Severing Valley,” White Peace said, standing at the edge of the cliff. Her white hair was blown backward by the valley wind.
She stared into the darkness of the valley floor, her pitch-black eyes showing no emotion.
“At the bottom lies a destroyed civilization.”
“Many years ago, when that world collapsed, an entire city was uprooted, fell into a Space Rift, and eventually landed here, sinking to the bottom.”
“Those resentments are the remnants of all the dead in that city.”
Mu Yingying lay down at the cliff edge to take a look, then immediately pulled back.
“I can’t see the bottom,” she said, her face a little pale.
“No one has ever gone down there,” White Peace said.
“I’ve heard that those who go down never come back up.”
Little Frost didn’t look at the valley floor. Instead, she was looking for a spot to set up camp.
She noticed several protruding rocks at the cliff edge, forming a hollow that could block the wind.
“Here,” she said.
White Peace walked over and, with her hand, traced a circle in the air above the ground.
Black light flowed from her fingertips, spreading along the lines she drew.
The light solidified into a circle on the ground, and a semi-transparent black barrier rose from its edges.
The protective shield was formed.
The temperature inside the barrier was much higher than outside. The chill that seeped into the soul was kept out.
White Night’s Soul Body stopped trembling, and her golden glow stabilized.
Mu Yingying lit a fire.
The flames burned quietly inside the barrier, undisturbed by the valley wind. The orange-red firelight reflected on the faces of the four, their shadows flickering on the rock walls.
Little Frost leaned her Rusty Bicycle against the rock wall and sat down beside White Night.
Her hand rested on the bike frame’s crossbar, her thumb unconsciously stroking it gently. This habitual action looked especially tender in the firelight.
Mu Yingying fished a Compressed Biscuit out of her backpack and broke it into four pieces.
She handed one to Little Frost, placed one in front of White Night, took a bite from one herself, and set the last piece beside White Peace.
“Eat up, Beauty Auntie. You can’t keep the barrier up if you don’t eat.”
White Peace opened her eyes, took the biscuit, and started chewing slowly.
“It’s been a long time since I ate,” she said after two bites.
“How long?” Mu Yingying asked curiously.
White Peace took another bite.
“I’ve forgotten. Too long.”
Mu Yingying munched on her biscuit: “No worries. From now on, you’ll have your share every day. Just make sure you take good care of our Little White Night.”
“You don’t need to remind me. I’d do that anyway,” White Peace replied.
Little Frost chewed her biscuit in silence. She was thinking about how she could increase her own strength to better protect White Night.
The night deepened.
The campfire slowly died down. The orange-red turned to dark red, leaving only embers glowing faintly.
Little Frost fell asleep leaning against the bike frame. Her breathing was steady, but her brow was slightly furrowed.
Her hand was still resting on the crossbar, her fingers curled gently, as if she were holding something in her dream.
Mu Yingying curled up next to the fire, hugging her Tang Dao.
She mumbled in her sleep, the words unclear.
White Night caught a few words.
“Xiaonian… don’t run… Auntie… touch…”
White Night’s face felt slightly warm. She pretended she hadn’t heard.
White Peace leaned against her.
The Hundred Flowers Dew had enriched her Soul Body more than before. At night, she was actually more alert than during the day.
She drifted to the edge of the protective barrier. Through the black semi-transparent screen, she looked out at Soul-Severing Valley.
The valley floor was pitch black. She couldn’t see a thing.
But White Peace could feel that, from within that darkness, something was watching her.
White Night reached into the Bike Basket and touched the Letter.
The touch of the Letter Paper was icy cold. She couldn’t make out the handwriting in the dark, but she remembered every stroke of every character.
Who exactly had sent that letter?
She couldn’t figure it out.
Unlike White Peace, she didn’t have five thousand years of memories to reference.
The handwriting on that letter had caused a momentary reaction in her Soul Body, but only for an instant.
She couldn’t tell if it was familiarity or an illusion. It felt like glimpsing a vaguely familiar stranger on the street—gone before she could think about it.
She decided not to dwell on it.
She’d go to the Deep Abyss along the way to collect some Ghost Crystals, upgrade the RV System, and figure it out later.
Behind her, she heard extremely light footsteps.
White Peace had gotten up. She walked over to White Night, her bare feet stepping on the rock without a sound.
White Night only knew she was there because she sensed her aura with her Soul Body.
“Can’t sleep?”
“Yeah,” White Night said.
“I can’t sleep either.”
White Peace stood beside her, her white hair falling over her shoulders.
“Every time I get near a place like this, it reminds me of things from the past.”
“What kind of things?”
“A lot. From different worlds, different times. I’ve lived too long. Too many memories.”
“Most of the time, they’re asleep. But some places, some auras, wake them up.”
She paused, her gaze fixed on the darkness of the valley floor.
“That city at the bottom of Soul-Severing Valley… I passed by it once, before it fell into the Rift.”
White Night looked at her.
“Back then, it was still a living city. There were lights, voices, smoke from cooking fires.”
White Peace’s voice was very soft, as if reciting an old poem.
“I stood on a hillside outside the city, watched it for a long time, then turned and left.”
“Why didn’t you go in?”
“Because that world didn’t have you.”
White Night was silent.
The wind from the valley blew past, blocked by the barrier, only causing faint ripples on its surface.
White Peace continued: “For five thousand eight hundred years, I’ve walked through too many worlds.”
“Some worlds were beautiful. Some were cruel.”
“But no matter what kind of world it was, as long as you weren’t there, I wouldn’t stay. I’d take one look and leave.”
White Night listened to these words, a nameless warmth rising in her heart.
She reached out and placed her hand over White Peace’s. The touch of her Soul Body was warm.
“Why are you so determined to find me? Haven’t you ever felt tired, wanted to give up?”
“No,” White Peace answered, briefly and firmly.
“Then you’re so silly.” White Night couldn’t help but tighten her grip on White Peace’s hand.
“Next time we come across those interesting worlds, we can look a little longer. I’ll look with you.”
White Peace looked at her, held her gaze for a few seconds, then the corners of her mouth curled up.
“Then I’ll wait for you to come see them with me.”
“Yeah,” White Night nodded.
“Take me with you.”
The two stood at the edge of the barrier, looking out at the darkness, saying nothing more.
Behind them, Little Frost’s fingers on the bike frame moved slightly in her sleep, curling up. But no one saw.
The sky began to lighten in the east.
In the morning light, the barrier gradually turned transparent, then finally dissipated.
White Peace flexed the fingers she had been holding all night.
Little Frost woke up.
The first thing she did when she opened her eyes was look at White Night, confirming that her Soul Body was intact.
Only after doing that did she rub her stiff neck.
Mu Yingying sat up with a yawn, also checking on White Night first.
She tentatively reached out to poke the back of White Night’s Soul Body hand.
Little Frost slapped her hand away.
“Where are you putting your hand this early in the morning?”
“Touching it won’t make her lose a piece of flesh… Besides, I can’t even touch it…”
White Night laughed at their bickering.
The four packed up camp and stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking Soul-Severing Valley.
Morning light shone on the rift, the rock walls gleaming with a cold gray.
The valley floor was still an impenetrable darkness. The feeling of being watched from the night before was gone.
Maybe it stopped watching during the day. Maybe it had never been there at all.
White Night summoned her Compass. The needle pointed east, but its reaction was slower than usual.
She felt a little uneasy.
“The Compass doesn’t seem as effective as before.”
White Peace glanced at it.
“This Compass has limited use.”
“The rules in places like that are different from your world. Your little gadget can’t read them.”
“Then how do we find our direction?”
“I’ll lead the way.”
White Night nodded.
From the very first day, White Peace had always walked at the front.
Her Perception was sharper than any tool.
Barefoot on the ground, she could sense Weirdness from far away.
Just follow her.
Little Frost pushed her bicycle. White Night curled up in the Bike Basket.
White Peace walked on the left.
Mu Yingying walked on the right, her Tang Dao slung over her shoulder.
The four followed the cliff edge of Soul-Severing Valley, heading east.
Behind them, the grayish-white wasteland of the Bone Wasteland grew distant.
The direction of Hundred Flowers Town was already completely out of sight.
Ahead, the rift valley snaked forward in the morning light—a never-healing scar on the earth.
White Peace walked in front. White hair, black dress, bare feet.
The road was still long.
It would take a while to reach the Deep Abyss.
But Mu Yingying had already started humming a song. It was that same out-of-tune melody.
Little Frost sighed. She didn’t stop her.
The chilling wind here was quite eerie. Letting Mu Yingying hum a bit was a good thing.