Volume One, Chapter 129: Sora and Shiro

Mo De turned around, scanning the displays and ornaments in the library hall. Inadvertently, he locked eyes with someone who had been watching him.

After their gazes met, the person seemed to realize their curious stare was a bit abrupt. They offered an apologetic nod to Mo De, then clutched the thick books in their arms and turned to leave.

Mo De smiled and watched them walk toward the depths of the library until the pale green figure vanished around the corner of a bookshelf.

Shaking his head, Mo De refocused his attention on the directory map behind him, intending to locate the section housing books on metal-based abilities.

Mo De’s understanding of metal abilities was still at an introductory level; in battle, he mostly relied on improvisation. Now, taking advantage of the opportunity to browse the Great Sanyi Library, he could finally catch up on the theoretical knowledge of ability combat.

...

Heaven and earth left no trace; the sun and moon cast no shadow.
Up and down were indistinguishable; left and right were unclear.
There was no path forward, no door to retreat.

Only a hollow, empty sensation remained in his heart. He struggled to open his eyes, yet lost even the final remnants of darkness.
This was the realm of "Emptiness" and "Nothingness."
External things did not exist here.
Save for that single thought drifting amidst the ethereal void.

He perceived the blankness and void in a state of chaos; time seemed isolated from this realm. The river of time flowed around it, leaving only eternal void, whiteness, and her thoughts to keep company.

Here, there was no name, no form, no existence.
Boundless emptiness, the ultimate end of infinity, the far reaches beyond the heavens.

"..."

Dazed, hazy, and vacant.
It was as if one were omniscient and omnipotent, yet devoid of all sensation and perception.

"..."

Desires departed from this heart, existence departed from this body; all causality faded away, and even tranquility dissipated.
A single thought detached, seeping into the blankness and whiteness of this realm.

"..."

Contemplating the formless, fixating on the pathless meditation, cognizing the boundless law.
Reaching absolute enlightenment, yet finding no place to return.

"...Sister..."

The realm swayed; emptiness, nothingness, consciousness, and thought all trembled.
The contemplations receded, the fixations collapsed, the cognitions scattered.

"...Class monitor..."

Thousands of consciousnesses converged into a single point, pulling the thought out from the void.
There is a tether in the heart; one cannot remain!

The tide of nothingness receded, the domain of blankness disintegrated. The reality of existence tangled itself once more around that single thought, bringing the five senses and six perceptions back into play.

"Su! Zi! Wen!"

A thunderous roar, deafening and sharp, yanked Su Ziwen—whose thoughts were slowly sinking and whose consciousness was gradually clearing—back into reality.

She opened her eyes; the blankness deep within her pupils had vanished, leaving not a single trace behind.
Real sounds, real colors, real tactile sensations.
Everything was a bit too overwhelming for Su Ziwen at this moment.

But regardless, Su Ziwen had awakened from that dream where everything ceased to exist and had returned to the real world.
She raised her hand, clenching and unclenching it. It seemed control over her body had returned to normal.
Su Ziwen could not recall what had happened previously, for her memory held nothing but a vast, hollow void.

"Class monitor, you’re finally awake. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" someone whispered by her ear, though the tone was no longer as anxious as before.
"How do you feel now, Ziwen?" another person asked, their concern tinged with a hint of panic.
"I’m fine, Senior Yu Jiuchuan, Mo De," Su Ziwen replied, her throat feeling exceptionally dry.

Taking the glass of water handed to her by Yu Jiuchuan, Su Ziwen drained it in one gulp.
Sensations from all over her body surged into her mind like a tide, as if trying to fill the void left by those missing memories.

"Senior Yu Jiuchuan, Teacher Chen Yue is here!" Ivanoti pushed open the door and rushed into the room, followed closely by a briskly walking Chen Yue. Behind Chen Yue trailed Mu Qing, who had changed back into her original black cloak.

When Ivanoti and Chen Yue saw Su Ziwen sitting up on the bed, they were both startled, not expecting her to have already regained consciousness.

Previously, Ivanoti and Yu Jiuchuan had finished their training in the Phenomenon Hall and intended to wait for Su Ziwen and Mo De to finish so they could all visit the Great Sanyi Library together.
After Little Feng sent a message in their group chat, Mo De, who was already at the library, informed them that Su Ziwen had returned to the apartment to rest.

Little Feng wanted to return to her room to change out of her training gear, and Yu Jiuchuan, who was wearing a sports jacket, had no objections, thinking it would be convenient to check if Su Ziwen had woken up.

When the two entered Su Ziwen’s room, they immediately sensed something was wrong.
Although Su Ziwen lay on the bed, sleeping soundly with a steady rise and fall of her chest, her sense of presence was constantly fading. This eerie scene terrified both Ivanoti and Yu Jiuchuan.
They could see her, touch her, and even hear her breathing, yet in their perception, Su Ziwen’s existence was disappearing bit by bit.
No matter how they called out, Su Ziwen remained in a deep, rhythmic slumber, as if lost in a beautiful dream from which she could not escape.

Yu Jiuchuan immediately contacted Mo De, who was buried in books at the library, urging him to return. Meanwhile, Little Feng dashed out the door, pulling out her phone and running toward the teachers' patrol route.

Upon receiving the message, Mo De’s first reaction was that this shouldn't be happening, as Su Ziwen had previously told him she felt this mutation was a good thing for her.
By the time he sprinted back from the library and saw Su Ziwen, whose presence was nearing zero, he didn't care about waiting for Teacher Chen Yue anymore.
With desperate calls, Mo De tried to rouse his class monitor from her sleep.

While Mo De was racing back, Mu Qing, who was wandering around, noticed his anxious state, ended her sightseeing, changed her clothes, and hurried toward the apartment. On the way, she bumped into Ivanoti dragging Chen Yue along. From the anxious Little Feng, Mu Qing learned that Su Ziwen had fallen into a deep sleep and could not be awakened.

"What happened earlier?" Mo De stood up, yielding his spot to the bewildered Chen Yue.
Su Ziwen frowned tightly, but try as she might, she could not recall the memories from before she woke up.

After drinking another glass of water from Yu Jiuchuan, Su Ziwen organized her chaotic thoughts and recounted the ability mutation she had experienced in the Phenomenon Hall to everyone present.

"After returning to the room, I only felt the dizziness in my mind growing heavier, and I drifted off to sleep. Everything else I can remember is simply someone calling my name." The more Su Ziwen tried to recall what she had experienced, the less she could remember.

Those memories were like a dream, vanishing into thin air upon her awakening.
The only thing remaining was the lingering, profound echo of that "void."