<h4>Chapter 579: Clear Mirror</h4>
Nameless Lake on Apple Ind, Dongyu District, two hours ago.
The night wind was strong, and theke rippled toward the same direction. Dark clouds filled the night sky, which flowed and fluctuated hurriedly. Every once in a while, the silver moon would peek out of the clouds, shining a stream of moonlight down on the ground like a giant glowing worm crawling on the wastnd, and it quickly crawled to the namelesske.
Instantly, theke shimmered and scintited with cool light like it was bathed in the divine blessing from heaven, a beautiful miracle.
Standing by the reeds next to theke was a tall, slim man. He was wearing a gray tattered cape that had be so dirty that there was no telling what its original color was. His wrinkled leather boots shone with years of wearing, and the shoces were tied messily into countless dead knots, as if the shoes were part of his feet.
His hair was thick and oily, running down to his lower back in rough strands that resembled seaweeds.
He looked like a homeless man who hadn’t washed himself for years.
He slowly lifted his head. Moonlight illuminated his grimy face. Hisplexion was dark, and his face covered in a messy bushy beard. His pronounced grayish blue eyes alone stood out, as clear as the surface of theke before him.
Standing by theke, his cape and hair swayed in the wind, while he remained unmoving and unblinking like a stone statue.
After some time, his eyes suddenly shifted to the left slightly.
Someone was here.
The reeds rustled and parted to the sides to make way. A figure walked elegantly through the reeds, shrouded by colorful dust particles that looked like nebs. Closer inspection would make out a woman’s figure amid the dust particles, but since the particles were changing nonstop, her figure shifted between tall and short, fat and slim; there was no defining feature to be discerned.
As expected of the spy nted in the Hundred Rivers Union, she was cautious. Even when meeting with someone from her side, she maintained her disguise.
She came up to theke and turned to the unkempt, rough-looking homeless man.
“Clear Mirror.” Her voice sounded crackly and rough, as if it wasing through a radio with a bad signal. It was clear that her voice was modted somehow.
The man named Clear Mirror called out her codename in a low, icy voice, “What can I do for you, Dust?”
“It’s time,” Dust said. “The Heavenly Godbearer needs you.”
Clear Mirror was silent for a moment, his expression impassive. “The body’s hidden at the bottom of theke?”
“Yes, or I wouldn’t have called you here,” Dust spoke at a deliberate pace, her tone a little distant. “Thete Archbishop stole twelve bodies from the Qilin Guild, and the most special one was hidden at the bottom of theke. He was going to use the body when it was the right time, but he lost the chance to.”
“I’ll bring it back,” Clear Mirror said with the same monotone. “What’s the mission?”
“The Divine Scion has emerged. Kill him.”
Clear Mirror’s eyes glinted, his gaze sharpening.
“May the Heavenly Godbearer bless you,” said Clear Mirror.
“May the Heavenly Godbearer bless you,” Dust repeated.
Clear Mirror walked toward theke, the water submerging him little by little. Soon, only slowly spreading ripples could be seen on the surface.
Dust waited by theke, the colorful dust particles fluctuating quickly like a tree of fireworks, the reflection dancing on the surface of theke.
At some point, the dark clouds had covered the moon again, and theke plunged back into darkness.
<i>Hum</i>.
A fleeting dull sound came from the bottom of theke. From the center of it, a strand of gray blue energy shot out, instantly dividing into two branches and turning a right angle to split theke in half horizontally.
In an instant, the wind blowing at the surface of theke stopped. Even the air seemed frozen.
<i>Ssh</i>. An intangible power cut theke all the way to the bottom, creating a deep valley that was four meters in width. The cut surfaces were smooth and even, as if the water had been frozen in ce by an intangible, evenly-spread force.
Dust looked down at the bottom of theke to check the progression. Then she turned to leave.
Wind returned to theke, rustling and swaying the reeds.
...
Gao Yang had another dream. It wasn’t something to be surprised about, but the ce he dreamed of did take him by surprise.
By a road in the small town stood a two-story concrete building built by the residents themselves. Before the door was a small concrete front yard, by which stood a ginkgo tree.
The weather was pleasantly cool deep into autumn. A breeze rustled the tree, and golden leaves fell like rain.
Gao Yang walked across the concrete clearing covered in fallen leaves and saw the familiar little shop. Outside was a ss disy with a variety of cigarettes, and inside were two shelves filled with all sorts of snacks and everyday necessities.
The wall on the left disyed children’s toys, including mini 4WDs, small air guns, ying cards, yoyos, dress up stickers, hopters, magic bubble glue, tamagotchis, and more. On the wall on the right were andscape calendar and a few award certificates—all brought back from school by Gao Yang and Gao Xinxin.
Under the award certificates were twelve sheets of paper with the crayon doodles of the twelve Rune Types. It looked childish in an unnerving way.
A familiar voice came from his side. “You have umted 339 Luck points. It takes 1920 points for you to attemptprehension of another Talent.”
Gao Yang turned around to find, unsurprisingly, his once caretaker with a gentle smile on her face.
“I didn’t summon you.” Gao Yang scowled. He hadn’t entered the system for days.
“Yes.” The dorm keeper smiled. “You’re dreaming.”
“Then am I in a dream, or in the system?”
“You entered the system unconsciously in a dream.”
Gao Yang smiled bitterly. <i>Is this what luck is? A luck I can’t escape from?</i>
“Brief me,” Gao Yang said.
“Congrattions on Lucky breaking through to level 5.” The dorm keeper spoke in a lilting voice. “With level 5 Lucky, the limit of your stats is increased to 2000.”
“Willful Power’s use time increases to 15 seconds, the cooldown shortened to 24 hours, and the loss to stats decreased to 1%.”
“The passive increase of Luck points increases to 2 points per hour.”
“Promoted from a Spectator to an Honored Guest, acquiring the privilege of fair treatment.”
Gao Yang remained silent.
The dorm keeper continued to exin despite not being prompted to, “From now on, you’ll have an equal chance toprehend all Talents. In other words, the lowerprehension rates of top and bottom Talents no longer apply to you.”
Before, Gao Yang would’ve jumped up and down in excitement, but he didn’t feel pleased at all now; he had learned the source of Lucky.
After a moment of silence, he looked up at the dorm keeper seriously. “What is the Divine Scion, System?”
“As the name would suggest, it’s the child of God.” She gave a useless response.
“What is God?”
“Please explore on your own.”
Gao Yang wasn’t surprised. He had thought the system worked like a user manual in the past, but now it seemed more like a dictionary to him. Although the dictionary contained the definition of all basic words, when he was trying to find the answer to most questions, he would have to look up andbine the words on his own.
“That’s it then. I’m getting out.”
“Of course.”
The dorm keeper disappeared, but Gao Yang didn’t wake up from his dream.
He paused before walking up to a shelf, grabbing a few packs of instant noodles that could be eaten without cooking. He sat down on the concrete steps before the shop, tearing one pack open and taking out a circr stic disk printed with the pattern of a small squirrel. He tucked it gingerly in his pocket. Then he started munching on the snack.
Leaves fallen from the ginkgo tree towering over him. Gao Yang took bites after bites and made a crunching sound every time, as if he was back to his carefree childhood.