"..."
"Th-That... is Bai Zhi?!"
An almost tangible demonic aura, dense and concentrated, overflowed and coiled around the half-human, half-spider figure, churning into a frenzy.
Under the dim sky, this terrifying atmospheric presence nearly made the weakest of them, Long Bingheng, feel the urge to faint right then and there.
Zi Chen, Li Wang, and Jian Xin all stood perfectly still, like sculptures weathered for a thousand years. Their gazes were filled only with that figure—at once breathtakingly beautiful and utterly horrifying.
When the stark, striking contrast between bewitching charm and utter terror was embodied in a single form simultaneously, there was a kind of captivating allure that made one want to pound the table in awe.
"Lord... Bai Zhi..."
Yang Shining stared blankly at the half-human, half-spider figure. If at first glance she had been terrified upon seeing Bai Zhi in this form, then after clearly beholding its appearance, she was shaken to her core by its eerie, demonic yet noble, majestic beauty.
"..."
Gui Yu's face was equally rigid. Bewilderment flickered through his eyes, and an almost imperceptible murmur escaped from his thin lips, but no one heard it.
A few seconds later,
A red-haired, bewitchingly beautiful young woman stepped out from behind the half-human, half-spider figure. It was unmistakably Wang Miaoyin.
"Wang Miaoyin" arrived at its side and said with a smile, "Wake up."
The mysterious woman atop the giant spider seemed to have been lost in a daze, completely still. Only upon hearing this did she come back to her senses.
She turned her head toward "Wang Miaoyin," her crimson full-moon-like eyes reflecting puzzlement.
"What are you surprised about? This is the real you."
"Wang Miaoyin" laughed lightly. Her voice was clearly different from the previous Wang Miaoyin's—imbued with an added touch of ethereality and allure.
The mysterious woman was stunned for a moment and did not speak. Instead, she looked at the little golden-white snake coiled around her neck, and also discovered a black crystal pendant hidden within the unfathomably deep, soft valley of her bosom.
Bai Huahua raised her head, her beautiful vertical-pupil snake eyes opened wide, and she asked intimately and curiously:
"Sister Bai Zhi, are you Sister Bai Zhi?"
The mysterious woman silently, gently, curved one slender jade-like finger and lightly tapped Bai Huahua's smooth little forehead.
Then she turned her gaze toward the night sky overhead, pausing for a second before shifting to look at the gathered humans.
Her gaze swept over the faces of the Secret Keepers, Long Bingheng, Yang Shining, and "Wang Miaoyin" one by one.
Ultimately, it stopped on the unconscious Chen Zhang.
"Web of the World."
In the next instant, she let out a faint sigh.
Yet this sigh seemed to transmit across the entire rear mountain—even the entire city.
That noble, cool voice... it really did sound a lot like Bai Zhi's... Such a thought flashed through the crowd's minds, but they dared not be certain. That voice made one dare not harbor any irreverent thoughts.
Then, countless illusory, intangible threads that only "Wang Miaoyin" could see interweaved into existence. Every thread was filled with and transmitted vast amounts of spiritual energy and information.
The fine spider silk spread and contracted—extending to the horizon, delving deep underground, stretching far across the city, and also winding finely around the depths of every human soul, allowing everyone present to faintly sense the existence of these threads.
Not only that, these spider threads seemed to also pierce through time and space, infiltrating different dimensions, establishing a connection with some space that bore the spiritual nature of all things—profound and wondrous beyond measure.
But they dared not move a single muscle, merely holding their breath as they watched the mysterious woman. They didn't know what she intended to do, nor why she had taken on this appearance.
Countless questions flashed through their minds.
At this moment, a speck of white light suddenly flickered in the night sky, growing larger and larger.
"Not good!"
"It's an orbital weapon..."
Gui Yu seemed to sense something and broke the eerie silence, his voice grim. "It seems the military, knowing the Heaven's Punisher has failed, doesn't intend to let us live either, in order to eliminate Bai Zhi!"
"Orbital weapon? I've imagined myself dying in an anomaly incident before, but I never expected to die under humanity's own weapons..." Zi Chen let out a lament but quickly accepted reality.
"Damn it, I should never have taken this mission back then! By the way, how much is the C-rank death compensation again?" Li Wang cursed angrily and then let out a bitter laugh.
"Everyone has their fate. Though B-rank compensation is double that of C-rank, I have no family anyway, so it doesn't matter." Jian Xin also quickly calmed his heart.
"How can this be... but the disciples of my inner hall are clearly innocent!" Long Bingheng cried out in shock and fury.
The three Secret Keepers and Long Bingheng each had different reactions.
Now, even if that mysterious woman didn't deal with them, they wouldn't survive anyway.
As for Yang Shining, she seemed not to understand what "orbital weapon" meant and didn't care at all what it was. She simply stared entranced at that peerlessly beautiful yet strange figure.
They saw the mysterious woman raise one lotus-root-like arm. Her five jade-like fingers made a grasping motion in the empty air. Instantly, countless threads of the "Web of the World" converged toward a certain point in the sky and collapsed inward.
After roughly half a second, the white light that had been rapidly closing in, flickering on and off, suddenly stopped, as if it had transformed into a fixed star in the night sky, embedded and motionless.
"What happened? Was that really an orbital weapon?"
"Gui Yu, could your sensing have been wrong?"
Gui Yu shook his head. "It wasn't my sensing. The Bureau's intelligence liaison just notified me of the dire news. He even asked if I had any last words."
Everyone instantly fell silent, their expressions shifting.
"You still remember your authority." After glancing at the mysterious woman, "Wang Miaoyin's" lips curved into a bewitching smile.
"I understand now."
The mysterious woman suddenly murmured. "Everything, absolutely everything, is as clear as reading the lines on my palm."
"I now know that the 'me' of the past is dead. Whether the 'me' in my parents' eyes, or the 'me' in the eyes of friends and classmates, those humans..."
"From this moment on, I am Bai Zhi. That past 'me' has vanished, but in this moment, I have gained new life."
Her voice was very soft. Only Bai Huahua and "Wang Miaoyin" could hear.
"Wang Miaoyin" looked up at the night sky and said calmly, "Bai Zhi, I hope we can meet again. But that may be after a rather long stretch of time."
"Leave this place soon. The authority I lent you won't last much longer."
As her words fell, the blood light in "Wang Miaoyin's" eyes faded. Her eyelids drooped, and her full head of red hair returned to its original black. With a thud, her entire body fell backward onto the ground.
Hearing "Wang Miaoyin's" words, a trace of confusion flickered through the mysterious woman's eyes.
At this moment, Gui Yu spoke up, attempting for the first time to establish a dialogue with the mysterious woman. He bowed slightly, placed his right hand over his chest, and asked with respect:
"Might I ask, powerful one, how should we address you?"
The mysterious woman's beautiful crimson eyes once again focused on the humans present.
"My name is—"
"Bai Zhi."
Her dignified voice fell like a declaration, not only echoing through the world but also branding itself into the deepest recesses of every human's memory.
She really is Bai Zhi?!
No—but one thing people could at least be certain of: she was not the same Bai Zhi from before...
"We will meet again," she said to herself.
In the next instant, the Secret Keepers saw the tips of Bai Zhi's hair—haloed in starlight—suddenly flash with an extreme blue-violet radiance, and Bai Zhi's figure vanished from the spot.
Vanished along with her were Yang Shining and Wang Miaoyin.
The mountaintop environment returned to normal. The demonic aura receded. Mid-autumn sent a gentle, cool breeze. The moonlight changed from blood-red back to silvery white, scattering a layer of "silver powder" upon the human world, outlining the shattered, devastated battlefield.
Gui Yu took a deep breath, feeling the tranquility and the night around him.
Only at this moment did he realize that the back of his shirt was, at some unknown point, completely soaked with sweat—icy cold and thoroughly soaked.