Split Zone No.13

78 The Loophole

If it is necessary to question the purpose of my existence in this split zone, then I suppose I’m still as clueless I was in the past. But I do understand a little more now—I want to save everyone who has ever been by my side in this alternate dimension.

Because… I’ve always been alone. Now that I finally have people I could call friends; how can I simply stay a spectator to their persecution?

“Do you have any desire to leave the split zone?” For some reason, a question Li Qing had once posed surfaced in my mind.

Do I want to leave…

I’m sure my parents are waiting for me, right…?

But what would happen once I leave this place…?

I’ll still be that mentally ill girl everyone ostracized and detested. I’ll still have no friends and if… If I do return, I’d have to face the reality of murdering my most beloved Senior Gao Qi…

I’m nothing but a criminal. What right do I have to possess the desire for return?

To be honest, I don’t mind wherever as long as I’m not alone. I’ll be fine as long as I’m not lonely anymore…

Speaking of loneliness, I wonder if the other ‘her’ within me might have been lonely too…

I hated you for so long. You distanced me from society, you made me kill the one person I loved, and you practically ruined my entire life. Even so, you were also the only one who stayed by my side through everything. You were the only one who did…

But… Where are you now? Have you really fused with Nie Zun? Were you the reason he remained by my side through days and nights?

You… Could you give me an answer…?

Did Nie Zun really resonate with you?

Nie Zun…

At the thought of Nie Zun, I leapt to my feet. With the Piercer in my hand and the bow on my back, I circled the stone room again.

Knock, knock, knock!

I thumped against the walls.

Despite the s.p.a.ce looking just like a normal stone room that had been dug from the ground, I was sure that there were mechanisms in place; how else could I have ended up here?

Winding the Piercer around my waist, I manipulated and focused my MF towards both my hands and attempted to push against each of the four walls.

My effort was futile.

I rested against the wall again. It seemed I’d have to take some time to

reflect about Ta Lai, properly and in detail.

From the depths of my memory, Ta Lai was low profile and his existence wasn’t something that many would notice. Why, then, did he decide to appear at such a time? He was helping me… But why?

And why did he have the habit of rotating his ring, the one embellished with a jade stone?

Li Qing had never mentioned anyone like him while she was around, so how was it that he seemed to know so much about the lessons she taught me? What was his motive for bringing me here?

After contemplating extensively, not knowing how much time had pa.s.sed, I stood up and swept my gaze around my current confinement again.

“Ta Lai, what’s your motive? Why have you locked me up?!” I roared. Anyone would grow irritable from being trapped in a confined s.p.a.ce for an elongated period of time—I was no exception.

Despite this, there was no answer apart from my own voice; there wasn’t a slightest bit of noise here.

Could it be that he wanted to test my ability to escape this room? But it didn’t look like there’s any sort of threat in here…

Lifting the Piercer, I utilized my MF and lashed it with great force towards the wall opposite me.

Crack!

A dull sound emitted from the collision of my whip against its target but there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a scar on that stone wall.

All of a sudden, I realized just how peculiar this room was.

After infusing my MF into the Piercer, the damage inflicted by its Violet Blade should have been ma.s.sive; if this was a regular, underground stone room, the whip would have been more than enough to break it apart.

“What exactly… is this place?” I muttered under my breath. While my eyes darted around, I was trying to find a loophole. My mind flashed back to the moment we stepped into the darkness before I was mysteriously transported into this soulless stone room.

An illusion…? No, that can’t be it. If it was indeed an illusion, then Nie Zun should be in the same plight as me right now and would have been able to see through the gimmick and found me by now. Even though I have never seen it in action, nor had any idea how his eye technique worked, I had once overheard Jie Pa talking about it—Nie Zun had the ability to see through

through illusions.

Of course! Was this why he could get along so well with Guan Nie? Was it because Guan Nie knew from the get-go that his illusions would have no effect on Nie Zun, yet didn’t do him any harm? If that’s the case, then was it Nie Zun who broke the Huan Qing’s illusion back in the Southern District’s boundary forest? When I thought of Pomelo and Gao Qi?

In that split second, the particular memory rushed to mind.

“Couldn’t find him. He comes without a shadow and leaves without a trail. But on the subject of illusions, ugly girl Li Shen, I already broke the spell, so why didn’t you wake up?” Guan Nie joked as he looked at me.

As my strength came back to me, I rolled my eyes at him. “Ugly girl? And haven’t I woken up now?”

Guan Nie sneered. “Woke up? It was Nie Zun—”

Did Nie Zun use his powers to enter the illusion and forcefully yank me back to reality?

Then… Then the person who called out “Shen’er”… was him?

From that point on, was he also the one who called out “Shen’er” numerous times since, saving me from falling into enchantment and captivation of others?

Could that be true… Is he that gentle…?

With those thoughts swarming my mind, I was caught in a mixture of emotions. Being trapped within these four walls without a single other soul did not help my irritancy either.

I’m exhausted… I guess I’ll take a nap.

……

When I woke up, there was still no one around.

“F—What the h.e.l.l is going on?!” Combing my fingers through my hair, I scrunched them up and hopped in fury on my spot.

“Are you holding me captive in here? For the love of G.o.d, you could have at least warned me before imprisoning me! Instead, you trapped me in here without the tiniest bit of explanation, are you for real?!”

I cried into the air, but no one responded.

I am absolutely furious by now. I could feel a sense of replenishment in my MF that hinted the pa.s.sing of an entire day—I have been trapped in this confined s.p.a.ce for an entire day.

Like I’d gone berserk from being stuck here, I exerted every single bit of my MF and smashed the walls relentlessly with punches and kicks. I even pulled the bow from my back and began knocking countless arrows towards the wall.

Yet, this horrifying wall seemed to be made out of an indestructible

an indestructible diamond, without a way of penetrating through—there wasn’t a single crack despite my attacks!

“You call this training? Aren’t you just toying with me?!” I exclaimed as I glared at the wall, then to the ceiling above and the ground below.

In spite of it, no matter how much I entertained myself or how much I wallowed in self-pity, no matter how much I yelled in rage… there was no one who cared to hear it. In here, I was on my own… There was no one else but me.

“I honestly can’t stand this anymore. Ahhh—!!” Tugging at my hair, I cried out wildly. Time was going by way too slowly. A niggling feeling of something in my mind told me I would go crazy if I stayed here any longer.

(Pa.s.serby A spoke up, “Aren’t you already crazy?”)

“Ahhh—! Ahhhhhh—! I beg you! Please let me go!” I screamed, no longer about to tolerate the distress of being stuck here alone.

What is going on?!

“Sigh… He’s looking for me…”

A voice chimed in my mind out of the blue.

This voice…

Isn’t this my own voice??

Without a clue of what just happened or what I had just heard, I knelt to the ground in disbelief. My spiritless eyes stared straight ahead at the blank wall in front of me.

Who… was the person… I heard earlier?

“Sigh… He’s looking for me…” Such vivid words… Who could be speaking them?

As if I had snapped, I leapt to my feet and shouted out aimlessly into the air. “Who? Who’s here?! Come out!”

“Sigh… He’s looking for me…”

It sounded like a faint voice of sleep-talk or a murmur into the mirror. That sound was clear, and I knew it in my mind that it was my own voice. It was a fact that I am unable to ignore.

“Have I… Have I gone insane from being trapped here?” I thought aloud, frantically looking at my surrounding.

“Come out now!” I shouted exasperatedly.

Not knowing when it started, my tears began sliding down my cheeks and splattered onto the lifeless stone floor below, disappearing without a trace.

I could feel the tightening of my head, as though it was about to combust. My mind began rattling vigorously and with the confusion in my consciousness, I could feel the MF from my split symbol growing unstable.

“Is it you? Could it really be you? … I know it’s you!” I screamed.

Yet, as soon as the words left my lips, I found myself asking:found myself asking: Li Shen, what’s there to be afraid of? So what if it’s really her?

Hadn’t it been because of your confinement that you’ve started acting this bizarrely? What are you so afraid of? Are you afraid that she’d take over your body once more?

It’ll be fine. Didn’t Mr Blond explain that? Since our arrival into the split zone, she had resonated with Nie Zun and vanished; all that’s left now is Nie Zun… She will never appear again. She will never take over your body to kill your loved ones.

She will never take over your body again, so why are you still so afraid, Li Shen?!

… But it’s a fact that I’m still really, really scared…

Hugging my knees against my chest, I slid against the stone wall, allowing my tears to fall freely.

“Shen’er.”

Another voice sounded from beside me!

This time, it was Nie Zun’s voice…

I may not know what’s going on with me now, or why I’m being trapped here but his familiar voice brought a wave of serenity over me. Just like the way he called out to me in the illusion, his simple “Shen’er” was enough to calm me down.

Breathe, Li Shen, you must calm down.

Calm down, Li Shen, and think through this carefully. It’s impossible for her to appear and she will never make her appearance in the split zone, much less take over your body. All of this is the work of the stone room.

That’s right. Upon careful contemplation, it was clear that Ta Lai had his reasons for doing this.

Didn’t he ask about Nie Zun’s eye techniques at the very beginning…?

… That’s right, he did ask about it!

It was how he figured out that if we were within a room where all five senses were working, Nie Zun would be able to save me no matter the circ.u.mstances. As such, he must have wanted me to be immersed in a s.p.a.ce like this, that was why he triggered a room that could distort our senses! He wanted to distract Nie Zun and I into defending those attacks before slipping me into this isolated void during his window of opportunity!

His intention had been to tap into my consciousness!

Yes, that’s right! If that’s the case, then I can safely a.s.sume that the ability he possessed after sealing his split symbol was the manipulation of s.p.a.ce—he can create a s.p.a.ce and manipulate everything within it to his desire!