"A quick reminder: soul skills exceeding the fifth ring are prohibited within the town. Unauthorized approach within three kilometers of the rift is strictly forbidden. A curfew is in effect every night after 8:00 PM. Violating any of these rules will result in immediate expulsion and placement on the Continental Observation Blacklist." The woman handed back her documents. "For accommodation, I recommend 'The Scholar's Home.' The prices are fair, and it's close to the town library."
"Thank you."
Stepping into Northwind Town, Qian Renxue gained a more intuitive feel for the changes of this era. The shop windows lining the streets displayed items she had never seen before: foldable soul guide screens, personal protective forcefield generators, and simulated soul ring training devices. Fragments of people's conversations drifted into her ears:
"...the rift in the Northeast Sector expanded by 0.3% last week."
"...Shrek Academy's latest report indicates that the expansion rate of the rifts is accelerating..."
"...The barrier jointly developed by the Tang Sect and the Spirit Pagoda can only slow it down, not stop it."
"...I heard Heaven Dou City just reported its first case of 'Fading Syndrome'."
Qian Renxue made her way to "The Scholar's Home," a small, three-story inn. At the front desk sat a middle-aged man, his head buried in the task of fixing a crackling radio.
"Renting a room? Daily or long-term?" he asked without looking up.
"I'll take it for a week first," Qian Renxue said. "Do you have anything quieter?"
"The room at the very back on the third floor. The window faces the rear hill, so it's quiet. Eight hundred Federal Credits for the week, breakfast included."
Qian Renxue paid the fee—the currency Tang Wulin had prepared was more than sufficient—and took the key. The room was simple but clean: a bed, a desk, a chair, and a cramped bathroom. She set down her meager luggage and walked to the window.
The hill behind the inn was a gentle slope covered in low shrubs. However, her gaze passed right over the hillside, looking off into the distance. At the very edge of her vision, the color of the sky was wrong. It wasn't storm clouds, nor fog, but a hollow grayish-white, as if there was absolutely nothing behind that patch of sky. Occasionally, a flash of dark purple would streak through the pale gray area, vanishing in an instant.
The abyssal rift. The point where the Void eroded reality.
Qian Renxue closed her eyes, attempting to use her temporal perception to "touch" that area. But the instant she extended her senses, she was hit by a violent wave of dizziness and nausea. It wasn't an energy impact, but an existential rejection—her perception had brushed against a zone of "non-existence." It was like thrusting her hand into a vacuum; the pressure differential nearly tore her consciousness apart.
She immediately retracted her senses, gripping the windowsill as she gasped for breath.
"Even simple perception is this dangerous..." she murmured.
A knock came at the door. Qian Renxue steadied her breathing and opened it. The innkeeper stood outside, holding a tray with a pot of tea and a few biscuits.
"Forgot to give you this," the innkeeper said. "Every new scholar gets a copy of the 'Rift Survival Guide.' It's not me being nosy, but last month, a young scholar who thought he was hot stuff as a five-ring Soul King sneaked within two kilometers of the rift, and the result... well, never mind. Anyway, it's good to read it."
He handed her a thin booklet, set down the tray, and left.
Qian Renxue closed the door and flipped open the booklet. Inside was a simple, photocopied, handwritten guide:
Do not stare directly at the rift for more than ten seconds.
If you feel inexplicable sorrow or emptiness, retreat immediately and report it.
Do not enter areas where surrounding flora and fauna show signs of graying out.
Do not stay outdoors at night.
If you encounter a "Void Phantom," do not attack. Back away slowly.
Remember: What you see is not necessarily real.
The last sentence was circled in red ink.
Qian Renxue closed the booklet and sat on the edge of the bed. Outside the window, the sky was gradually darkening, and the small town was lighting up its lamps. Those lights seemed especially fragile against the thickening night, as if they could be swallowed up by that distant patch of grayish-white at any moment.
This was the world she needed to protect. This was the place where she needed to anchor her future.
But what was the future? The old man had said she needed a future "so solid that it almost already existed." That wasn't a vague vision or a beautiful wish; it was a certainty, a choice, a direction she was willing to invest her entire existence into.
Qian Renxue pondered this, her fingers unconsciously tracing the surface of the wooden desk. The grain of the wood was rough, with knots and cracks.
Real.
This was exactly what she was looking for by giving up her divine throne and returning in a mortal body—a real sense of existence, real connections, and real choices.
Late at night, Qian Renxue awoke from a light sleep. A certain sensation had roused her—not a sound, not a light, but a tremor on an existential level, like ripples forming on a calm water surface.
She got up and walked to the window. Under the moonlight, the hill behind the inn was shrouded in a hazy mist, but one spot was different. Halfway up the slope, amidst a patch of bushes, a faint light flickered. It wasn't the glow of soul power, nor an artificial light source, but a cold, starlight-like luminescence gathered into a cluster, moving slowly.
Qian Renxue put on her coat, slipped out of the room quietly, went downstairs, and exited the inn through the back door. Nighttime Northwind Town was excessively silent; there wasn't even the chirping of insects. She followed a small path up the hill, heading toward the light.
As she got closer, she saw clearly what it was.
A girl, looking to be around thirteen or fourteen, wearing thin pajamas, was standing barefoot in the bushes. The points of light were coming from her eyes—her eyes were completely filled with that cold starlight, lacking pupils or sclera. She stood there, looking up at the sky, her lips moving slightly as if conversing with an unseen entity.
What was even more unsettling was her state. In Qian Renxue's temporal perception, the girl's existence was "flickering." She was like a reflection in turbulent water, her edges blurry, her presence fluctuating between strong and weak. Moreover, dozens of extremely thin threads extended from her body, all vanishing into the void and connecting in the direction of the distant rift.
"A Lost One," a voice said from behind her. "Another one."
Qian Renxue turned around to see a man in a dark blue uniform. It was the colleague of the woman who had checked her at the town entrance earlier that day. He looked to be in his thirties, his face etched with exhaustion. He held an instrument in his hand, its screen jumping with complex data.
"My name is Lin Mo, a Level 2 Monitor at the Northwind Town Observation Station," the man said in a low voice, his eyes never leaving the girl. "You're the wandering scholar who arrived today, Xue Yan, right?"
"Yes," Qian Renxue nodded. "What's wrong with her?"
"Early symptoms of Fading Syndrome," Lin Mo's voice carried a professional calmness, but Qian Renxue could hear the suppressed emotions beneath it. "Or rather, we call them 'Rift Sensitives'. Some people are exceptionally sensitive to Void erosion. They will unconsciously approach the rifts in their sleep or form some kind of connection with the Void."
"Is it dangerous?"
"To her? Not right now. To the people around her? Not necessarily," Lin Mo began operating his instrument, sending a soft blue light sweeping over the girl. "She has unconsciously become a tiny Void node. If left untreated, she will gradually fade away, and ultimately... disappear. And before that happens, the spatial structure around her will become unstable. It could spawn small rifts, or attract 'Void Phantoms'."
"What are Void Phantoms?"
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