Encoffining the Chief
Continuous drizzle.
In the hazy water mist on the edge of the willow bank, several figures wearing black Suits walked over slowly.
They came from the ruined Main City, walking through the curtain of rain and the mud, yet their bodies weren't stained with the slightest bit of dust, like walkers transcending the mortal realm, walking the human world in the most solemn and dignified image.
In their field of vision, a withered willow tree gradually outlined itself in the water mist... Appearing along with it were two embracing figures.
Bai Ye, walking at the very front, suddenly raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop;
Unlike in the Aurora Domain this time, they didn't open their umbrellas in advance. Instead, they just stood there, letting the cold rain wet the tips of their hair... Even so, they didn't step forward to disturb. No one spoke, like silent mountain peaks towering in the rain.
One minute,
Five minutes,
After an unknown amount of time, the figure under the willow tree wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and slowly stood up from the ground.
Su Zhiwei turned her head. Her reddened eyes flowed with light, and the Oppressive Aura of the Nine Sovereign Tier gathered in her gaze, piercing through the rain curtain to shroud those silent black mountain peaks!
"What... do you want to do?" A hoarse voice rang out from her mouth.
"Sorry for the interruption, Your Excellency Lord of the Red Dust." Bai Ye spoke calmly. "We are a professional funeral team. We came this time to hold a funeral for the Azure Spirit Dao Chief, Your Excellency Floating Life Painting Chief."
Su Zhiwei's eyes narrowed slightly. Her gaze swept over everyone, and she asked uncertainly:
"... Dusk Society?"
"Your Excellency Lord of the Red Dust, you've actually heard of us?" Bai Ye was incredibly surprised.
Logically speaking, the Lord of the Red Dust was an existence from the Great Cataclysm era. Having slept for so many years and only awoken for so long, it was fundamentally impossible for her to know about the Dusk Society... Yet the other party only heard one sentence from him and called out their name.
"Don't you guys only hold funerals for the Nine Monarchs? Why do you want to encoffin Yao Qing?"
"This is also a decision from the higher-ups. As for the specifics, we aren't clear either... Perhaps it's because the contribution His Excellency the Chief made to humanity is no less than the Nine Monarchs, so he is worthy of our funeral; or perhaps, it's to prevent some thieves from secretly taking his corpse away."
Su Zhiwei's brows furrowed slightly. She turned to look at the figure leaning under the willow tree, not knowing what she was pondering over.
After a long time, as if having made up her mind, she looked back at everyone.
"... I believe you."
The Dusk Society members also didn't expect Su Zhiwei to agree so easily. They originally thought Su Zhiwei would stubbornly insist on burying Yao Qing's corpse herself, or be incredibly vigilant against their funeral team of unknown origin... But for some reason, the other party seemed to have a natural trust in them.
"Thank you for your trust, Lord of the Red Dust. We will definitely give His Excellency the Chief a proper burial." Bai Ye answered respectfully.
10 of Diamonds walked straight under the willow tree and gently patted his palm on the ground. Wooden Coffin boards automatically precipitated from the soil... He held an Iron Hammer, continuously striking on these wooden boards, and a black Coffin perfectly took Yao Qing's corpse into it.
This entire process flowed like floating clouds and flowing water. Every movement and detail highlighted the word "professional".
In less than half a minute, the Dusk Society finished encoffining Yao Qing's corpse and hoisted the Coffin onto their shoulders.
"Wait."
Just as the Dusk Society members were about to leave, Su Zhiwei suddenly spoke.
Bai Ye and the others turned back in confusion, only to see that beautiful figure wearing a white training uniform standing alone under the withered willow tree, her reddened eyes full of complexity...
"Reverse the Era, Reboot the World... It's real, right?"
Bai Ye was startled, seeming not to know why Su Zhiwei would suddenly ask this.
But he pondered for a moment,
and still gave the most solemn and serious response:
"Yes, Your Excellency Lord of the Red Dust... This is the other shore we must reach, even if we bet our lives on it."
"Then, I wish you success."
After Su Zhiwei finished speaking, she said no more. She stood quietly under that withered willow tree, watching the Dusk Society members hoisting that Coffin, gradually disappearing at the end of her field of vision...
Until a long time after they left, she still hadn't moved her steps, just standing there feeling a sense of loss, like an eternal and unchanging sculpture.
...
Main City.
Unkempt refugees walked out from the underground Shelters and onto the streets.
They blankly looked at this unfamiliar ruin before them, and the scattered severed limbs and pools of blood everywhere. This was the most realistic appearance after the war ended. The scent of blood permeating the air drilled into their nasal cavities, causing their stomachs to convulse uncontrollably, and in the next moment, they violently vomited.
Most of these people were refugees from outside the Main City. Upon seeing this scene, they wanted to leave the Main City and go home to take a look. Even if there were occasionally surviving Police Officers running out to maintain order, they fundamentally couldn't control the situation. The nearby streets fell into chaos... Sounds of crying, rummaging, vomiting, and roaring rose and fell in succession.
In this post-war chaos, a young girl wearing a black dress covered in bloodstains was staggering against the flow of people, walking slowly forward.
That was Liu Qingyan.
After separating from Chen Ling and the others, she directly returned to her own home in Willow Town. But when she arrived home, she found that her home was already completely empty.
She guessed that her family had most likely already fled along with the others, so she followed the direction of the main road all the way to chase after them. But after running about for a long time, she ultimately only saw a pile of chopped and fragmented corpses at the foot of the mountain.
Her parents and younger brother were also among them.
Liu Qingyan couldn't quite remember what happened next... She cried heavily beside the pieces of corpses, then dug a grave with her bare hands, moved their incomplete corpses into it one by one, and covered them with dirt... She buried all her relatives in the world, and also buried all her past in the Red Dust Domain. She sat muddleheaded in front of the earthen grave for an unknown amount of time before stiffly standing up and walking towards the Red Dust Main City.
Mental and physical exhaustion assaulted Liu Qingyan's mind like a tide. After passing through a group of refugees, she supported herself against the wall and walked into an Alleyway, sitting down as if she had exhausted all her strength...
Her face was as pale as paper.
Pain and confusion filled her mind. She sat there blankly, like a silent black rose sculpture.
Suddenly, a swaying of light and shadow pulled her out of her Soul Out of Body state and back to reality...
She only saw that in the unmanned Alleyway, a smear of moonlight shone down out of thin air. Light and shadow crisscrossed on the surface of the broken wall opposite her, gradually intertwining into four massive patterns that occupied almost all of her field of vision...
Those were four entirely different Card Faces:
——[Heart 5], [Spade 5], [Diamond 5], [Club 5].