Destiny is ashes

Chapter 1155 Cold (33)

Inside the exhibition hall, the lights were bright and the atmosphere was warm as spring. Inside the transparent glass pillars, the treasures that would be auctioned off that night were displayed.

The goods are not inanimate objects, but living things, or rather... living puppets.

These puppets are all stunningly beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Some are delicate and charming, while others are chivalrous and fairy-like, all wrapped up tightly, with only their curves visible. Still others are incredibly bold, revealing their soft, alluring bodies.

Some have fox ears, some are snake women, some are actually male but look like women, and some are the opposite, they are actually tomboys.

Each one possesses a near-perfect appearance and figure, meticulously dressed up in various ways to cater to different fetishes.

These modified human puppets can each perfectly play a role, and their reactions are absolutely real. They are not fixed programs, but rather feedback that the brain processes through memory.

They genuinely felt that their powers were being suppressed, that they were being sold off, and the despair, hatred, resentment, anger, and unwavering will to never give up that were revealed in their eyes were all 'real'.

Bai Qinghan silently slipped into the shadows of the auction house.

She ignored the exhibits and glanced at the crowd.

Her target was clear: the children of disaster relief officials from disaster-stricken areas such as Xishan and Northern Xinjiang.

Soon, their gazes finally settled on the elegantly dressed young man in a silver robe and fox-tail scarf.

Surrounded by two attendants, he was preparing to head to the more private VIP lounge.

Just as the boy stepped onto the stairs leading to the second floor, Bai Qinghan moved.

A gust of cold wind swept through the air, and with a thought, magic arose spontaneously. The expressions on the faces of the two guards who were protecting the boy and whose cultivation had reached the peak of the martial meridian were instantly frozen, and the protective energy around them dissipated silently, like a bubble that had been punctured.

Their breathing stopped for a moment, their heartbeats froze, and their bodies silently slid to the ground without making a sound.

The elegantly dressed youth felt a sudden emptiness beside him, and before he could react, an invisible yet irresistible force enveloped his entire body.

He was horrified to discover that the spiritual energy flowing within his body had been completely imprisoned, as if he had become a mortal, unable to move even a single finger.

The next instant, he felt as if he had been pulled into the void, like the cold void of a harsh winter. A girl dressed in gray with an indistinct face stood in front of him and grabbed his neck: "Why have most of the disaster relief supplies from Xishan and Beijiang not been distributed yet?"

"Who exactly is targeting the refugees outside the capital?"

"You fucking...you are...who are you...?"

The richly dressed youth was shocked and furious, but soon, the chilling aura gradually approaching his heart made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave. The fear of death and a heavy pressure on his soul made him scream and answer, "From...from the very beginning, there was no intention to distribute them all!"

This is...this has been the practice for years...the higher-ups distribute money and provisions, and then the lower levels siphon them off layer by layer. This is the rule...people will always die. Since that's the case, let's delay a bit longer, make the disaster seem more severe, and the more people die, the more we...the more we can get..."

"As for Shenjing, I don't know, but it should be about the same. Anyway, let's... let some people die first, let the old, weak, women and children die. Those who survive are healthy and strong, easy to take care of and easy to use, so that things don't turn out to be a mess later!"

Bai Qinghan listened silently, her face expressionless, yet the turbulent currents in the void seemed to freeze and solidify.

"I see."

She murmured to herself, then asked another question, her voice even lower and calmer than before: "Was the Great Cataclysm of the Vast Ocean more than a decade ago also like this?"

“I, I don’t know… I was young then… But I heard my elders say that all disasters are like this… and, and in the past, they were even more severe… Some disasters were even…”

He died before he could finish speaking.

Bai Qinghan released his grip, letting the frozen corpse fall into the void, where it was pulverized into dust by the turbulent currents.

—It was intentional. She got the answer, undeniably, leaving no room for evasion.

Then, in the next instant, she laughed.

Then, a profound stillness and chill, originating from the spot where the richly dressed youth had been, began to spread rapidly, silently enveloping the entire auction house like mercury spilling onto the ground.

After some time, the guards on guard outside the auction house finally noticed the deathly silence inside.

"What's going on? The silencing array has been activated? The young masters and ladies have started playing so quickly?"

The head guard frowned and stepped forward to push the heavy vermilion gate.

"Huh? It's locked from the inside? Ah!"

A sense of foreboding rose in his heart. He gathered his inner strength and slammed his palm against the door.

However, the instant his internal energy touched the door, an incredible chill rushed along his internal energy towards his arm, spreading wildly through his meridians. He only had time to let out a short scream before he was shocked to see his entire arm covered with a layer of gray ice at a visible speed, and his life force was quickly extinguished.

This guard captain was a ruthless character. Without the slightest hesitation, he drew his sword and slashed it fiercely at his own shoulder!
Blood gushed out, but it condensed into ice crystals in mid-air. The severed arm fell to the ground with a crisp sound like shattering porcelain, and then turned into gray ice dust.

"What happened?"

The real person stationed in the airship arrived immediately. He had not noticed anything before, but now he looked solemnly at the silent auction house. He focused his mind and pointed a finger, and a crimson stream of light struck the door.

The spell, upon contact, actually crumbled. The real person then intensified their power, causing the light to blaze intensely, finally creating a large hole that allowed a biting, desolate wind to rush out, causing everyone in the entire city to instinctively shiver.

"Where did such pure Xuan Yin spiritual energy come from... Could it be?"

The man took a deep breath, his heart sinking like a stone. He sensed that something terrible was about to happen. The next moment, when he probed the auction house with his divine sense, his voice even trembled slightly as he gritted his teeth and said, "Fuck your mother, they're all dead!"

Whether it's the sons and wealthy merchants of officials adorned with jewelry and spending money like water, or the servants and guards serving them, or the puppets displayed behind transparent glass... whether it's unbridled desire, greed, longing, or the real 'hatred,' 'fear,' and 'despair'... everything is frozen in ice and vanishes into death.

The capital city was shaken.

The night is dark and the cold wind is howling.

Bai Qinghan dragged his weary body back to the refugee camp outside the pass.

She finally got the answer she had longed for for over a decade, an answer she already knew, an answer she didn't even need to guess, an answer she had already learned from various sources... Even so, an answer that had been repeated time and time again, after being verified once more, still made her feel... cold.

Just like more than a decade ago, those nights repeated again and again, seemingly without end.

Just as she was about to return to her tent, she saw a person in the shadow of the watchtower.

The person was slender, dressed in a blue robe, and stood quietly in the cold wind, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

Noticing Bai Qinghan's gaze, the man slowly turned around.

Under the cool moonlight, Gu Yeqi and Bai Qinghan looked at each other.

"Long time no see, Qinghan."

She said softly.

(End of this chapter)