"…Talulah…"
Bai Ling let out a quiet sigh, staring at the gray-haired girl who stood on the mountaintop in a daze, eyes fixed on some distant point. He looked genuinely torn.
"I… what can I do?"
She turned back toward him, and for the first time her voice carried a faint, almost pitiful softness.
It had already been three days since the Hyperdomain Rift crisis in Valley No. 4 was resolved.
According to Qin Jiangchi—the Chief Administrator in the Hub District—what happened at the Hyperdomain Proving Grounds that day was nothing less than the birth of a second sun.
With Talulah's Originium Arts fully unleashed, the Rift was cleaved in two—along with the Proving Grounds itself, which was effectively erased from the map.
Every device was reduced to charcoal. Structures were ruined. Even the vegetation near the site had been scorched lifeless.
Naturally, all corrosion phenomena near the Rift vanished as well—
including that blood-red "river" that had once poured down the mountainside like a waterfall, now completely evaporated.
From a crisis-management standpoint, Talulah had performed perfectly.
But from any other perspective…
this was destruction of a different kind.
The Proving Grounds had been one of the Alliance Guild's most critical strategic assets. The naturally stable Rift above it was an indispensable "bridge" for Hyperdomain research across the Civilization Ring—exactly why Nephis had chosen it as her activation site.
And now…
Talulah had shattered that stability with a single stroke. The Hyperdomain signal had become faint—so weak it was practically extinguished, solving Valley No. 4's corrosion problem at the root.
Whether that outcome was "good" or "bad"…
wasn't so easy to judge.
"…This isn't Terra," Bai Ling said softly. "It's Talos-II. A future planet."
"Mm." Talulah nodded, walked over, and sat with calm elegance on a nearby rock.
They were on the summit of Rockhill Mountain in the Hub District—quiet, empty, far from the bustle.
After the crisis, Erdelra had returned to the Dijiang ship, saying she needed to prepare something before coming back to Valley No. 4.
Talulah tilted her head slightly, as if something didn't add up.
"I have some things I want to know. Will you tell me?"
By all rights, she should've been the one asking questions.
But she didn't object. She simply nodded once.
"…Before you came here," Bai Ling asked, "what were you doing?"
"I killed someone. I was running. I rested. And then I arrived here."
Her voice wasn't loud, but every syllable was crisp.
"Who did you kill? Koschei?"
"…You know him?"
She looked genuinely surprised.
"The immortal Black Serpent… will die eventually," Bai Ling said. "Even if he hasn't yet."
In Bai Ling's memory, Talulah wasn't a bloodthirsty person. For her to kill with that kind of clarity and attitude, the target could only have been Koschei.
If Wei Yenwu was the source of a certain kind of sin—
then Koschei was the thief who dragged Talulah onto a road with no return.
Neither side was innocent.
And she and Chen were children born from that distortion.
On the snowy plains, Talulah said, she could still hear his voice—telling her his story, his wishes, his ideology.
"But I don't believe him."
"That's right," Bai Ling said. "You're a Drac—born to lead. You've made many mistakes, but your core… is still kind."
"…That word has nothing to do with me." Talulah's gaze drifted. "I just… feel like I should do something."
Despite power that could break the world, she felt strangely at ease in front of Bai Ling—as if she could finally let the tension fall away.
"What's it like," Bai Ling asked, "being Infected?"
"Nothing special. But my Arts got stronger."
For a Drac, Oripathy wasn't as terrifying as it was for most. Their tenacity could resist that "terminal disease"—and besides, Talulah's bloodline carried something even rarer and more stubborn still.
"Treat everything you experience in this world like an exercise," Bai Ling said. "When you return to that snowy plain, you're going to face a lot."
Talulah, fresh from killing Koschei, was still only a girl who had just come of age. Even with power to overturn heaven and earth, her mind and heart weren't fully tempered yet.
And worse—
an old fox still whispered in her ear, trying to steer her.
"As for your future," Bai Ling continued, "I can tell you step by step. But right now, we may need to go do something—something that will help you later."
Talulah's leadership was outstanding.
But it wasn't mature.
Most of Reunion's operations had relied on raw force from its "leader," while the people beneath remained chaotic.
That wouldn't do.
Bai Ling had already asked Perlica for access to a secondary integrated core—with the little "penguin's" approval, of course.
He hoped that through practical "training" here in Valley No. 4, Talulah could gain the experience needed to solve some of Reunion's deeper problems.
"Teacher Bai Ling! Talulah—so you're here!"
A bright, lively voice sounded from behind. Chen Qianyu jogged up from the slope.
"Didn't the Administrator tell you to help at the temporary shelter, Xiao Chen?" Bai Ling teased with a smile.
Talulah, seeing Chen Qianyu, also smiled—warmly, almost indulgently.
"…I was thinking," Chen Qianyu said, scratching her cheek, "the more hands the better. There's too much over there. I'm worried I can't handle it alone, so I came to find backup…"
Talulah's tone drew out playfully.
"Oh? And even the famous Endfield operator Chen Qianyu can't manage something?"
"Ah—don't say it like that! Talulah…!"
Chen Qianyu had absolutely no defense against her teasing.
For some reason, she couldn't summon even a trace of defiance toward Talulah—
not even the impulse.
Talulah seemed to love that reaction. She rose to her feet slowly.
Bai Ling had already told her: Chen Qianyu was likely descended from the relatives of her younger sister, Chen Huijie.
And when Talulah thought of her sister…
she couldn't easily name what she felt.
Did she hate Chen Huijie?
Maybe she did.
But blood was blood.
No matter how much resentment existed, it wasn't pure hatred.
It was a knot she needed to undo.
....
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