Chapter 159

The room fell silent for a moment.

Zhou Ming didn't speak, because he felt it was better not to—it would be awkward.

The Frost Queen didn't speak either—she was still sprawled on the floor.

And so, the two silent "people" remained in a stalemate for a while. The Frost Queen continued to gnaw on the floorboards, while Zhou Ming stared at the back of her head. After this deadlock lasted for about half a minute, Zhou Ming finally felt he had to say something—after all, staring at a lady gnawing on the floor wasn't very polite.

So he bent down and cautiously broke the silence, "...Do you need a hand getting up?"

The language of humans entered her ears.

Lei Nola felt the buzzing, trembling, and overlapping noises that had been constantly swirling in her mind suddenly "collapse." All the sounds transformed into human words that could be understood without consciously "listening." She instantly reacted and abruptly rose from the floor.

Then her head collided with Zhou Ming's chin—this time, she didn't even have time to cry out before falling back to the ground.

Zhou Ming, on the other hand, was seeing stars from the sudden impact.

But he quickly recovered and, ignoring the revolving stars in his vision, hurriedly reached out to support the "Queen," who had fallen again. As he helped the unfortunate lady up, he awkwardly said, "Sorry, I was standing in the wrong spot... Are you alright?"

Lei Nola felt her head buzzing, but she was clearer than ever—she realized that her sanity had completely returned to her body, and an indescribable "recognition" had just completed its restructuring in her perception. She understood the layered, chaotic noises and saw another side of this "nest."

She saw the floor, the chairs, and the other strangely unique and unfamiliar furnishings—many things that looked like everyday objects used by mortals floated in a boundless chaos filled with dim, obscure light. In the depths of the chaos, there seemed to be illusory structures like walls, and all of this was constantly expanding, contracting, and wriggling in her vision, like a mimicked illusion.

All of this gave her the feeling that an indescribable, non-human entity resided here and imitated everything "human" in its nest.

She also saw the "entity" that was speaking to her. It was still a maddening starlight, but the starlight had collapsed into the outline of a person. She couldn't make out the features in the starlight, but she could see that the other party was supporting her arm with a "hand," and she could hear the human voice coming from that starlight—a voice that revealed a friendly and amiable attitude.

"I... I'm fine," Lei Nola hesitated. Even with the Frost Queen's wisdom and composure, she seemed a little dazed after a series of unexpected events. As she sorted out her thoughts, she tried to communicate with the "entity" in front of her, who seemed to be imitating humans. "Sorry to disturb your peace. I was just a little... curious, and then I was bound by this curiosity near your... 'palace'."

Zhou Ming frowned, feeling that something was strange about the way the Frost Queen was talking to him.

But he didn't think much about it, because he was just as dazed as she was—the stars were still floating in front of his eyes. He could only wave his hand. "It's good that you're okay. I never expected... you to be the first 'human' to visit this place."

Lei Nola watched the actions of the humanoid entity in front of her. Endless curiosity surged in her mind. At this moment, she couldn't help but point to the spherical object that had been floating around the entity's head (if that starlight was indeed a head), "...What is that thing?"

Zhou Ming looked up, his expression subtly silent for a moment. Finally, he tentatively reached out to grab the small celestial body with a pale yellow, bright atmosphere that had just separated from his body. The moment his fingertips touched it, the small planet quietly returned to his body.

"That's Venus," he said, trying to control his expression and tone. "A... star."

Lei Nola watched this scene in amazement and couldn't help but exclaim, "...Incredible."

"I think it's incredible too," Zhou Ming said from the bottom of his heart. "Before you bumped into me, I never thought this would... happen."

He lowered his head and looked at his hands, seeing that his arms were as usual. But when he tried to clench his fists tightly and concentrate on conjuring up a starry sky in his mind, faint starlight floated in his vision.

The changes were accelerating once again...

Lei Nola couldn't understand what this "starry sky entity" was doing. She was only amazed that the other party truly possessed human-like intelligence, amazed that she was actually communicating with such an incredible being at the end of the world. After confirming the "entity's" friendliness, she gradually grew bolder. "Do you... always live here?"

Zhou Ming frowned. He suddenly realized what the subtle sense of disharmony he had been vaguely feeling in Lei Nola's words and attitude was.

"You didn't recognize me?" he said, looking at the "Frost Queen" with some surprise.

"Recognize you?" Lei Nola was stunned by the words and looked at the non-human entity in confusion. "Have we... met before?"

Zhou Ming was taken aback, suddenly realizing—that's right, Lei Nola hadn't actually met him.

She had met Duncan.

So he spread out his palm and summoned a flame in front of Lei Nola.

A ghostly green light burst forth from the stars, and the connection of the flame was instantly established—the cluster of flames Lei Nola had once touched resonated with the flame in front of her.

"Do you remember now?" the starlight trembled, speaking in human language.

Lei Nola stood frozen in place, the great astonishment causing her to take several seconds to wake up. Then she stared at Zhou Ming in utter disbelief, "You're... Captain?!"

"...That's part of me," Zhou Ming thought for a moment and explained to the "Queen" according to his understanding. "Or rather, one of my forms, one of my vessels."

He paused and couldn't help but add with emotion, "You're the first 'human' to see me here. Now you know the truth beyond anyone else."

Amazing knowledge exploded in her mind. Lei Nola once again felt the dizziness she had felt the first time she saw the magnificent "light cocoon." It was the shock brought about by the reshaping of cognition, the revelation of truth!

But perhaps because she had already crossed that "rift," had already entered this "cocoon," and had already undergone the initial baptism, this dizziness only lasted for a moment. Then, she regained her normal thinking ability and quickly understood everything—

A chaotic being located at the end of the world, a thousand-faced entity, a "spirit" that had pierced its "tentacles" into the dimension of reality, it had ten thousand interpretations, yet it had a single source—a source that slumbered at the end of time, and now she, a reckless traveler, had found that source.

"It's been a long time," Zhou Ming smiled. He knew that Lei Nola would definitely be a little dazed after learning the truth, but it seemed that she was more dazed than he had initially expected. He had to take the initiative to speak, "Don't just stand there, come sit down and talk. Tell me what happened after you 'ran away,' how you found my 'cottage,' and what you were scribbling outside."

As he spoke, he walked towards the sofa.

"Don't mind the simplicity here. After the end of the world, the conditions here are limited. It certainly can't compare to your palace back then or your current magnificent bedroom—and there's nothing here to entertain you with. But then again, you're a ghost now, so you probably don't need to eat anything, right?"

"Um... no."

Lei Nola said casually, following Zhou Ming to the sofa in a semi-dazed state. Her walking posture was swaying, as if she were walking on a constantly deforming floor. This aroused Zhou Ming's curiosity, "Are you dizzy?"

Lei Nola couldn't help but mutter to herself, Everything here floats in an expanding and contracting chaos. It doesn't seem like a place where people can stand at all. Of course, you'll be dizzy walking on it.

But in front of this "thousand-faced starlight," she couldn't directly say these words, so she could only nod her head with a forced smile. "A little, but it's not a big problem."

"...Oh, then you really need to sit down."

Zhou Ming said, his tone a little awkward. He touched his nose, thinking that it was no wonder—after all, this "Queen" had just slammed her head on the floor twice, and the back of her head had taken a solid hit... It seemed that she had been hit pretty hard.

But he didn't feel too guilty—he was still seeing stars from the impact.

After sitting on the sofa, Lei Nola felt a little more grounded.

Although the "sofa" was also shrouded in a dim, suspicious black mist, and its surface was covered in "colors" that seemed to be constantly shifting like some kind of living creature, at least when she sat on it, she finally lost the dizziness and feeling of falling as if she were stepping on the surface of chaos.

Zhou Ming also sat down on the sofa next to her, looking at the long-unseen Frost Queen with curiosity. "Alright, now tell me about what you've been up to."

"...After escaping from the place that initially bound me, I've been wandering in the cracks of space-time," Lei Nola nodded, briefly organizing her thoughts before beginning to recount her experiences after "running away from Alice Manor with her bedroom." "It was a bizarre 'journey.' Like I said earlier, I even passed through the ripples of the sub-space. My 'cottage' was like a protective shell, carrying me through the turbulent, fragmented rivers outside the dimension of reality...

"I had many incredible experiences during my journey, which I can share with you later, but I think what you're most concerned about now is how I found this 'place'...

"In short, I was swept here by a suddenly appearing 'turbulence.' After being trapped for a long time, what initially guided me to your 'palace' was actually... a lamp."

"...A lamp?!" Zhou Ming's eyes widened instantly.

"Yes, a lamp, floating in the mist," Lei Nola nodded seriously. "A ship's lantern."