Volume 1, Chapter 112: The Past

The young girl sat on the sofa, recounting the sights and sounds of her day, while the young man beside her listened with keen interest, occasionally offering sharp, mocking critiques of a certain someone named Mo.

The young man lounging on the sofa, much like the "Senior Mo" mentioned by Ivanoti, was a member of the clandestine organization known as "The Tide." His codename was "Eleven," though in the real world, most people respectfully referred to him as "The Eleventh Seat."

Standing by the door with her hands clasped behind her back, Chu Fengyi waited in silence, careful not to disturb the reunion between the Eleventh Seat and his friend. As a permanent member of the Extraordinary University Management Committee and a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Extraordinary Education, Chu Fengyi was a figure so formidable that even the presidents of ordinary extraordinary universities had to treat her with great deference. Yet, in the presence of the Eleventh Seat, even she had to be respectful, standing quietly and awaiting his instructions. After all, he was one of the "Thirteen Sequences," a titan occupying the eleventh seat.

Chu Fengyi kept her gaze lowered, avoiding direct contact with the Eleventh Seat and the girl named Ivanoti von, while she pondered in silence. When the Eleventh Seat had first contacted her, it had given her quite a shock; she had feared that some catastrophic issue had arisen within her subordinates. It turned out, however, that a figure of such heaven-defying influence had merely reached out to pull strings for a student, requesting a special invitation for her to attend the Extraordinary University’s winter camp.

"The child will actually meet the requirements by next year anyway, so there shouldn't be any harm in letting her join in early, right?" His casual tone had sounded like he was joking with her, but Chu Fengyi, clutching the phone at the time, could not manage a smile.

She had agreed immediately. She personally oversaw the matter of Ivanoti’s special invitation, ensuring a smooth, green-light path all the way. After the invitation was sent to Qin City, the Eleventh Seat had even called specifically to thank her, which had sent another wave of terror through her. *As long as you don't contact me again, that would be the greatest blessing for me,* she had thought. Back then, when she hung up the phone, she never imagined that she would one day be meeting this Eleventh Seat in person.

Now that they had met, Chu Fengyi felt that the young man before her was not as terrifying or suffocating as the legends of the "Thirteen Sequences" suggested.

"What have you been busy with lately?" After finishing her account of the day, Ivanoti felt thirsty and took a sip of the coffee on the table, only to frown at the bitter taste. The girl stuck out her tongue and turned to ask Eleven.

*You really shouldn't be asking that, little girl...* Chu Fengyi, waiting nearby, tensed up instantly. One had to understand that the titans of the "Thirteen Sequences" were like dragons—rarely seen and never fully revealed—and their activities involved the deepest secrets of every nation.

"Just got back from the Northern Barrens. I had to clean up a mess left by a little brat..." Eleven poured a glass of milk for Ivanoti and said nonchalantly.

"Ahem..." Chu Fengyi finally couldn't help but cough softly to remind the Eleventh Seat that she was still present. She had no desire to know the classified itinerary of the Thirteen Sequences and risk inviting unnecessary trouble. In certain realms, the less one knew, the safer one was.

"Oh, right, Fengyi is still here. Thank you for bringing little Feng over. If there’s nothing else, feel free to go back and rest. I’ll send her back to her room in a while."

"Understood." Chu Fengyi bowed slightly, turned, and left the room.

Even as seasoned and experienced as Chu Fengyi was, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief at that moment. No matter how lighthearted and conversational the young man was with Ivanoti, in Chu Fengyi's eyes, he remained the very personification of mystery and terror. No matter how sunny and natural his smile appeared, it still kept her on edge. There was no helping it; after all, to be able to rank among the "Thirteen Sequences" and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those ancient monsters at such a young age—there was no way Chu Fengyi could face him with any sense of ease.

The Thirteen Sequences patrolled the world, hunting down the horrors that had begun to reawaken following the First Cataclysm. Those who hunted terror were, in themselves, the greatest terrors of all.

...

Taking a sip of his coffee, Eleven glanced at his watch; it was past ten-thirty. He stood up, stretched his body, and said to Ivanoti, who was holding her milk, "It's getting late. Let me walk you back to your room."

"Are you leaving?" Ivanoti set down her cup, her tone noticeably dejected.

"Although this business was troublesome, at least it was within the Huaxia region, unlike the harsh conditions of the Northern Barrens. I’ll give you a call when I have time." Eleven ruffled the girl’s silver hair again and laughed.

"Really? It's a promise!" Ivanoti looked up, and beneath her messy silver locks, her silver eyes brightened.

"Off you go now, or your classmates will start to worry." Eleven patted the little one’s head, then pointed a finger, releasing a gentle flow of 'extra-essence' to smooth out her tangled hair.

"Eleven, listen to me. The late-night snack restaurant in this hotel has all kinds of special fried foods. Especially the fried scorpions and fried centipedes—they are so crispy and delicious..."

Watching the lively, vivid expressions on the girl’s face, Eleven couldn't help but smile, though his heart felt a pang of sentiment.

Back then, in the strife-torn lands of Europa, after he had slaughtered the group of "Whisperers of the Old Gods" entrenched in the Duat territory, he had rescued the silver-haired, silver-eyed girl from the depths of Count Sade's castle.

Darkness tore through darkness, shattering the castle ramparts. When the man, bathed in blood after slaughtering the omens, charged into the depths of the hall, the girl sitting at the head of the long table was still dully rehearsing the etiquette taught to her by the butler, completely unmoved by the chaos outside. At that time, the girl’s movements were elegant and precise, her demeanor solemn and poised, yet her silver eyes held not a glimmer of light—only a hazy, chaotic void.

Although Eleven had rushed to the lands of strife the moment he received the news, he had arrived a step too late. The widow of Hohenheim Nord von had been brutally murdered by the "Whisperers of the Old Gods," and the daughter of Professor Hohenheim had been chosen by those madmen as a sacrifice to an Old God. After being brainwashed, she had been force-fed vast amounts of religious and ritualistic knowledge. The girl no longer thought of anything else; she only remembered that she had grown up in that sunless home, and that the purpose and meaning of her existence was to learn those complex rituals and tedious dances.

Because those madmen, who had listened to the whispers of the Old Gods, firmly believed that the entity they worshipped was the collective of all intelligence, the source and the end of all civilization. A sacrifice offered to the God of Intelligence naturally had to be a flawless, elegant object.

The moment he met the girl's gaze, Eleven was reminded of the little boy Li Changsheng had brought back to The Tide many years ago. In the depths of both their eyes, there was not a trace of the emotions that human beings should possess.

Fortunately, however, the emotions of the girl before him had only been temporarily suppressed by brainwashing arts.

Wielding the darkness, the man severed every chain and seal that bound the girl, comforting the silver-haired girl who had lost her mother and was weeping in a state of collapse.

"It is all over now," the man whispered, murmuring softly. "Everything has come to an end."