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Chapter 776: The Dark Day in Lanchi's Eyes
Chapter 776: The Dark Day in Lanchi's Eyes
Sigrid's face, usually vigilant during work, now appeared relaxed and peaceful.
Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly until she gently exhaled, seemingly having dozed off.
It seemed her act remained undetected.
Sigrid heaved a sigh of relief inwardly.
Fortunately, she hadn't overdone it; otherwise, she might not have been able to use Sigrid's identity again.
The childlike persona of Sigrid was extremely convenient. Whether it was hugging Lanchi or sticking close to him, he wouldn't feel embarrassed by her actions, attributing them to her childish innocence, and he could only accommodate her.
Moreover, since there was some overlap between Sigrid's persona and her true self, it was especially fitting to occasionally reveal a bit of her true feelings through this facade.
Most importantly, because Lanchi treated both her and Sigrid with respect and courtesy, he wouldn't easily associate the two different personas. He never labeled people and instead valued each individual.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Sigrid asked preemptively.
"I was reminded of a friend," Lanchi replied truthfully.
"Male or female? What's this person like?" Sigrid inquired, intending to divert the topic.
"An invincible woman," Lanchi chuckled. "But she only wants to marry someone stronger than herself, so she might never get married."
"..." Sigrid hid her hands behind her back, concealing the trembling veins, and maintained a smile as she asked, "Can't you help her?"
"How can I help?" Lanchi picked up his cup and took a sip.
He found Sigrid's suggestion rather absurd.
"Marry her yourself, then. That would solve her problem," Sigrid said nonchalantly, lounging on the sofa and kicking her legs casually, her toes tapping against the bottom of the coffee table. "I'm actually quite curious. What would your child with the strongest woman be like? How strong would they be?"
"??!" Lanchi nearly choked on his saliva.
He hadn't expected Sigrid to be so bold.
Just as he was about to explain the issue to her, she spoke again.
"You're the strongest Pope, aren't you?" Sigrid said matter-of-factly.
"But..." Lanchi was about to explain the truth but stopped himself.
He couldn't tell Sigrid that this was a shadow world, and although people understood the Holy Soul Lant Pope to be a Ninth-rank, as an interpreter, he was actually only Sixth-rank.
Since he couldn't explain it clearly, Sigrid's logic seemed flawless.
"..."
"I'll try my best to help, then," Lanchi finally sighed, intending to end the topic.
Bang, bang!
Suddenly, Sigrid slapped her cheeks to wake herself up.
Her face turned red from the force of the slaps.
"What's wrong?" Lanchi asked, concerned.
"I feel a bit sleepy again, so I'm trying to refresh myself," Sigrid replied, her face still flushed.
It seemed like the redness on her cheeks was a natural reaction to the slaps.
Sigrid then turned her gaze towards the window.
The chill of the Land of Eternal Night seeped through the gaps, creating a frigid draft indoors.
Lanchi immediately put down his cup and stood up to close the window.
He remembered that when he and Sigrid had gone to the snowfield together before, she often had trouble staying awake. In the alternating cold stimulation and warm comfort, she would always feel tired and sleepy.
Back then, despite being a child, she would have felt the cold after waking up in such frigid weather and would have wanted to curl up in a warm bed.
But she couldn't act willfully. Her work required her to stay alert at all times, even in a safe environment like this.
Over time, she had learned to forcibly fight her drowsiness.
Lanchi stood by the curtains, glancing outside. The snowstorm in the City of Night was even more intense.
Looking at the dark snow, he felt the chill up close and couldn't help but yawn, raising his hand to cover his mouth.
It seemed unwise to travel for the time being. It would be better to rest here in the City of Night for a while.
"Do you remember? Back then, you would coax me to sleep with a gentle yet commanding tone. I miss that," Sigrid said, watching Lanchi close the window.
It seemed that she could only truly relax and fall asleep when given a task.
"What? Do you still need someone to coax you to sleep at your age?" Lanchi turned around and asked with a smile.
"Yes!" Sigrid spread her arms, indicating both her desire to be coaxed to sleep and her wish to be hugged.
"..." Lanchi shook his head, feeling exasperated. "You're getting more and more like a child as you grow older. You rarely acted coquettish when you were little."
Of course, Lanchi didn't agree to her request and instead sat down nearby, looking at Sigrid helplessly.
"Hmph!"
Just then, Talia, wearing an apron, emerged from the kitchen with a freshly baked casserole.
She had overheard their conversation as she stepped out.
"Don't you dare hug her. I'll write a letter to report you," Talia said as she placed the dish on the table. Then, she turned to Sigrid and added, "Sigrid, at your age, you shouldn't let men hug you casually. If you want to take a nap later, I'll hug you."
"Okay!" Sigrid readily agreed in a childish tone, giving Lanchi a mischievous glance.
It was as if from the start, he had never expected to be in his embrace.
But being able to deceive Kaliella into hugging her was worth it.
"It'll take me about half an hour to finish cooking. You guys can start without me."
Talia said to the pair and the cat on the sofa.
"We'll wait for you," Lanchi replied, stretching lazily. He, too, was feeling a bit hungry and sleepy.
Talia nodded silently and returned to the kitchen with quick, light steps.
"The three of you get along so well, just like a family. You must stay together from now on," Meow Boss said, squatting on the coffee table and addressing the pair.
Although it knew that this beautiful moment couldn't last forever, it still hoped to cherish it with them for the next twenty-one days.
Lanchi and Sigrid had already reached a consensus to wait for Kaliella before eating together.
A meal without the head chef lacked soul.
Meow Boss agreed with this sentiment.
Today, Tata's main course was a perfectly slow-cooked beef rib paired with black truffle shavings, a specialty of the Beastman City-State, and a mushroom sauce that created ripples of flavor with each layer of aroma.
The main dish was a combination of fresh shrimp and Black Rice from Night City, resulting in a lemon-flavored salted shrimp dish. The addition of lemon juice and spices made the dish fragrant and spicy with a refreshing twist. There was also a caramel roasted duck, with a crispy, golden-brown skin, accompanied by the fruity aroma of roasted pears and a slightly spicy black pepper honey sauce.
The rest of the dishes were still being prepared.
They were all Sigrid's favorite dishes, and everyone seemed to be accommodating her. Meow Boss had directly helped her place the order.
"I never expected Kaliella to be such a good cook. She's like a virtuous wife; I even feel like marrying her," Sigrid commented, inhaling the delightful aromas wafting from the table.
"Don't you treat her like a mother?" Lanchi asked in surprise.
"It's just that she has a good temper, so she indulges you, and you can talk to her like that. Actually, she's quite young, isn't she?" Sigrid replied with a laugh, clearly annoyed.
They continued to chat and laugh.
The more they talked, the sleepier Lanchi's eyes became, and the softer Sigrid's voice grew.
It was almost noon in Night City, yet daylight never arrived.
The lunch hour, under the window's scenery, felt more like dinnertime.
"By the way, aren't you sleepy?"
Sigrid noticed that Lanchi had been yawning earlier.
He had seemed a bit weary from endurance training during their journey.
In theory, he should be resting.
But after arriving in the city-state, he hadn't slept much.
Or perhaps, ever since entering the Land of Eternal Night, he had been tense, and the more he witnessed the changes in the Beastman City-State, the less he felt like sleeping.
"A little," Lanchi admitted.
After chatting with Sigrid for a while and feeling the cold wind by the window, he did feel a bit sleepy.
Of course, it could also be that Sigrid made him feel relaxed.
"Rest for a while. You shouldn't drive while tired," Sigrid said softly to him, sitting by his side and stroking his head gently.
"How many times have I told you..."
Lanchi seemed exasperated, as if he had lectured her countless times already.
"...that you can't be so intimate with people..."
"You're special."
Sigrid's words trailed off after that, and she fell silent.
Her gentle and warm voice, like a spring breeze, lulled him like a soothing lullaby.
"..."
Lanchi nodded his head a couple of times, his voice almost fading away, as if he were enveloped in a cloud of haze, ready to fall asleep.
Gradually, all he could hear were the sounds of the wind and snow outside the window, soft breathing, and the pulse-like beating of his heart.
At this moment, the sleepiness he had accumulated during the drive surged like an unstoppable tide.
As his vision flickered between brightness and darkness, Lanchi's figure in Sigrid's eyes became increasingly blurred, leaving only the distinct blocks of pale and violet colors.
With these thoughts in mind, Lanchi closed his eyes.
...
After an unknown amount of time had passed, consciousness flickered in and out.
It was unclear where he was or what was happening.
It seemed like he had entered a world and time that he had never experienced before.
The earth roared, stained with blood.
The sky was cloaked in shades of gray and crimson, with thick smoke billowing upward.
The sun had turned into a lifeless, ashen disk, devoid of warmth and radiance.
The ground, once a solid foundation, now trembled relentlessly, cracking and collapsing.
Huge swaths of residents, numbering in the millions, fled in panic like ants, only to find nowhere to escape. On the ground lay countless bodies, some crushed, some trampled to death in the chaos.
Cries for help and sobs filled the air but were dwarfed by the thunderous footsteps of the legions marching forward.
On the horizon, a black tide was slowly but inexorably advancing. The Black Fog beings moved in perfect unison, each step causing the ground to shake for miles around.
In their path, forests were devoured, rivers diverted, hills flattened, and city-states, once mighty, crumbled like cardboard before them. Skyscrapers were effortlessly crushed underfoot, their fragments raining down like hail.
The air was thick with the acrid smell of gunpowder, dust, and blood.
A large city-state had been reduced to ruins in just a few short hours.
A man with a silver-white mask stood on high ground, towering over the masses.
His green eyes reflected the scenes of destruction, and the expression carved on his mask was cold and numb, like a god orchestrating this turmoil.
At this point, it was impossible to distinguish between the fate of the people and their will.
And so, the slaughter continued relentlessly.
The atrocities persisted.
"Spare me, please! Don't kill us!"
"Save me!!!"
"Why? Why have you fallen so far?"
Pleading, resentment, curses, and questions filled the air.
But he offered no explanations.
He simply watched with the eyes behind his mask.
He was sin and punishment, a demon bringing suffering to all living beings, a black sun casting catastrophe upon the world.
All the voices of doubt around him were like fleeting clouds to his ears.
Until he killed them all, or they came to kill him.
He would never stop.
[No forgiveness, no escape.]
[Our kin have awakened, and we shall not rest!]
The man whispered almost silently, like a vengeful ghost or a tyrant issuing a decree.
As he uttered these words, his figure once again blended into the darkness, holding his Black Fog Skeletal Scepter and stepping forward alone.
...
Lanchi woke up from his brief nap.
Glancing at the clock, he realized he had dozed off for about ten minutes.
"You're awake?"
Sigrid lazily leaned on the sofa, her eyes drifting through the window to the fluttering snowflakes outside.
Noticing Lanchi was awake, she lowered her head to look at him.
Lanchi opened his eyes wide, realizing he had been resting on Sigrid's lap, and she was gently stroking his forehead.
"!"
Lanchi immediately sat up, creating some distance between them.
His gaze no longer saw the pitch-black dream but was now filled with the dancing snowflakes outside.
The white snow twirled gracefully in the air, and soon, the entire city would be blanketed in pure white, ready to be illuminated.
Faint sunlight filtered through the window screens, casting a thin layer of white silk on the wooden table.
The sky had subtly changed hues.
The brief daylight of the Night City had arrived.
Only at noon did a few minutes of sunlight grace the city.
Lanchi stared out the window, lost in thought.
"What's wrong? Did you dream of something unpleasant?"
Sigrid asked with concern, unfazed by Lanchi's evasive attitude.
"Maybe."
Lanchi covered his forehead, unsure if he was shaking or nodding his head.
When recalling the dream, he always seemed to view it from a third-person perspective.
But thinking about it carefully, he should have been experiencing it from a first-person point of view.
He wondered if it was just a fleeting dream or if the negative state of this shadow world had been triggered again.
"..."
Sigrid observed him for a moment, not overly worried, and then leaned back on the sofa, closing her eyes as she murmured,
"Now that you are the Holy Soul Lant Pope, the authority you hold is enough to sway the entire Sevilia continent. Each of your choices can impact the fate of millions of lives."
It was as if she could read his every thought, even guessing fragments of his dreams.
Beyond the Land of Eternal Night lay the Night City, their final stop before reaching the Demon World.
She knew that as they ventured further, Lanchi's understanding of the Black Sun would deepen even more.
Perhaps the Demon World would be the endpoint where the secrets of the Black Sun would be unveiled.
What expression would he wear if the Demon World he encountered was no longer the one he knew?
Just like this Night City.
Returning to a familiar place and finding it either familiar or unfamiliar was not scary.
What was terrifying was that it was both familiar and unfamiliar, discordant and uncomfortable, and yet one had to accept this injustice, even if one wanted to argue or share their feelings with someone, there was no one to turn to.
But they had to go on. Escapism was not the answer; the only solution was to forge ahead.
"No matter what, cheer up, and let's go to the Demon World!"
Sigrid encouraged Lanchi.
"Thank you, but this journey may be challenging."
Lanchi turned his head to look at her and expressed his gratitude once more.
With Sigrid by his side, cheering him on, he always felt that the road ahead held no difficulties.
"I'll be with you."
Sigrid simply stated.
In her dream, she had dreamed of herself as Sigrid, living in the Demon World, and she knew that the Demon World had turned upside down.
This would undoubtedly deepen Lanchi's understanding of the Black Sun even further.
But it didn't matter.
She would accompany Lanchi and help him understand.
Sigrid stood up, walked slowly behind Lanchi's sofa, and gently raised her hand to cover his eyes.
"I believe that you will think of a solution, and together, we will achieve the relatively perfect world we have longed for."
Sigrid spoke softly.
It was as if she wanted to impart her warmth to him and let him feel her heart.
He was someone who never stopped thinking—skilled at distinguishing right from wrong or the boundaries between them. He could always rise above the superficial and stand in a world that only he could see.
During his journey to explore the world.
What did his eyes truly reflect?
Sigrid slowly removed her hands and brought them back to her sides.
Her emerald-green eyes remained clear, filled with contemplation and compassion.
Sigrid believed that he would eventually find the answers.
"..."
Lanchi's gaze was fixed on the south.
As if gazing into the distant horizon.
Perhaps toward the Holy Soul Lant Teachings, or the sea that separated the northern and southern territories, or the Honing Empire beyond the ocean.
"Is the enemy beyond the sea?"
He murmured.
He didn't know, but he would witness it with his own eyes.
(End of Chapter)
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