The moon had risen. To my surprise, the Forsaken had not fallen asleep—they were all wide awake. The four radiant suns that once hung at the cardinal points had vanished without a trace.
In the distance, the black surface of the sea shimmered with a hint of silver under the moonlight. Agent Seven stood beside me, smiling, and he seemed to be in unusually good spirits.
“Oh, right, Ethan Zhang, that girl named Sylvia Blue (Qi) asked me to tell you all—don’t lose.”
I let out a small sound of surprise. Lan Yin had been silent for two or three days now, and there was no sign of Forsaken 000.
Right now, Entity 001 and Entity 004 were inspecting the perimeter of the city wall. The black currents of curse power had already surged up—only about thirty meters remained before it would reach where we stood.
Thinking back to everything I saw last night, the instinct growing inside Rachel Lan still seemed fragile. She’d been distracted all day, especially at dusk. When I called her name, it took her a long while to come back to herself.
"I’ll go check on her."
Agent Seven nodded. I walked toward the wooden cabin. Inside, Rachel Lan sat with her chin resting on one hand, worry visible on her face in the moonlight, her brow slightly furrowed.
Rachel Lan.
I called her softly. She seemed lost in thought, staring outside, completely unaware that I had already sat down beside her. Only after a long while did Rachel Lan finally turn her head.
"Qingyuan, you came in and didn’t even call out to me."
I shook my head and replied.
"Sylvia Blue has returned to the Living World, she’s fine. She told us not to lose."
Rachel Lan’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed a little, and she nodded.
"Qingyuan, I heard a voice. It feels strange—like this body isn’t my own anymore."
I hummed in response. When my own instinct awakened, it was the same. Back then, in my dreams, and even in daily life, I felt as if another voice was calling out to me inside my head.
After talking with Rachel Lan for a while, I stood up. In the sky outside, only the City of Light remained. But now, the city was completely empty.
According to Agent 001, she’d heard some things long ago from Despair Origin. Back then, Agent 001 had just been assigned her number, and everything here was new and strange to her. She found that her consciousness was actually connected to her true self in the Living World.
The downside was that no matter how strong one’s power was, if the true self’s consciousness in the Living World fell asleep, the Forsaken here would become immobilized and lose awareness. It was easy for other mindless Forsaken to devour them. The only solution was to find a hiding spot before sleep, so everyone set their sleep time to dusk.
Those mindless Forsaken couldn’t connect with their true selves in the Living World. They wandered day and night without restraint, devouring weaker Forsaken when they found them. Sometimes, similar Forsaken would form teams.
Despair Origin once tried to change this reality. After giving power to the Forsaken with intelligence, he put them in charge of regions outside the Four Sacred Realm, ordering them to organize the wandering Forsaken.
But everything went against his wishes. It failed. Faced with overwhelming power, those lesser Forsaken scattered like headless flies—controlling them was impossible; they were as disorganized as loose sand.
According to what Despair Origin told Agent 001, this world is doomed to destruction because Despair Origin’s true self—Lan Yin—is still alive, having survived in the human world for over a thousand years. Agent 001 was astonished; at first, she didn’t believe it, not even in ghosts or anything like that.
But later, Agent 001 gradually sensed things were becoming more complicated. Despair Origin was constantly doing something, setting up countless things in this world. She vaguely felt his final goal was to force the Four Guardians to leave this world. In the end, he activated the formation—the Sundusk Cataclysm—unleashing the curse power that had been building up for ages.
None of this was natural—it was all engineered. Gradually, I began to understand how curse power was born. It’s like two sides of a coin, one bright, one dark. People always seek the light, but where there is light, there must be shadow. No one can escape that.
The Forsaken born from the death of faith in this world are more like aggregates of curses—a direct curse upon the true selves in the Living World.
"Do you have a plan?"
Just then, I heard Agent Seven’s voice from outside.
"Roxie, get some rest. I’ll keep watch."
Outside, Agent 001 had already arrived. She shrugged helplessly.
Despair Origin is bound to make a move. If the true origin of this world really resides in Rachel Lan’s body, he’ll definitely come for it. That’s the key to how this world operates.
I gazed quietly into the distance, feeling a deep melancholy. If I could, I truly wouldn’t want to be Lan Yin’s enemy. But now, I have no other choice.
I vaguely recalled something Lan Miu said to Lan Yin before he left. Back then, Lan Yin refused to understand or even consider it—just like me now. Lan Yin was stubborn, but maybe family, friendship, and love slowly softened his edges, made him gentler. For those things, he had no choice but to change.
A breeze swept by. Agent 004 arrived, riding on a cloud, and Agent 005 came along too.
"I really thought I was done for. Never expected to end up back here."
There was a note of despair in Agent 005’s childish voice. I could imagine how he felt—maybe his time in the Living World was almost up, and now, in this world, he had to wait for death, with not a shred of peace.
"Dead either way—just depends on how you choose. I’m not ready to just give up and die."
Agent 004 swung her ceremonial whisk. Clusters of golden clouds drifted out, swirling through the air and casting a faint golden glow all around.
"This time, I’m giving it everything I’ve got. I hope you all do the same."
In the distance, the city gates swung open. A rush of air swept over us, and as I looked up, Despair Origin was already standing before us.