Chapter 152: Apocalypse

The elderly butler placed the recliner under the tree closest to the house where Ye Mu was staying, enjoying the shade while waiting for Li Tao to return.

He wanted to take Ye Mu in, but having spent his entire life in the Li family household, he needed the consent of Li Fei’s father, Li Tao.

The elderly butler recalled that Li Tao must have returned very late last night, and by the time they finished discussing matters concerning Ye Mu, it was probably already past two o'clock in the morning.

Early this morning, the butler had intended to tell Ye Mu that she could henceforth live in the Li estate, but when he pushed the door open, Ye Mu was already gone.

"Mu'er, live with Grandpa these past few days. In a couple of days, I'll speak with the master and have the City Lord reopen the Mubai Pavilion so we can go inside and move your things out," the elderly butler said, standing outside the door and knocking. After a long while, there was still no sound from within.

"Could it be...?" Suddenly, the elderly butler’s heart skipped a beat, fearing that Ye Mu might have done something foolish.

He abruptly shoved the door open, only to find no trace of Ye Mu.

"Where is she?"

"Xiaolian, do you think going home is a good idea? Big Brother must be waiting for Mu'er at home." At the boundary between the inner and outer districts, a girl whose clothes were soaked in morning dew and whose eyes were filled with exhaustion walked step by step toward the outer district. She seemed to be speaking to someone, yet there was not a single soul near her.

The girl did not look down at her path; her gaze remained fixed in one direction within the old district, and only when she blinked from time to time did a glimmer of vitality show.

The old butler sat alone on the recliner, his eyes fixed on the room where Ye Mu had slept, continuously pondering where she could have gone.

He had just been to Mubai Pavilion to check; the main gate was still locked. In fact, ever since Muyang City learned of Ye Bai’s death, Mubai Pavilion had remained sealed. Those living in the inner district were either wealthy or noble, and the rest were individuals like Ye Bai who had been admitted to the two major academies. Now that Ye Bai was dead, the City Lord’s mansion’s artificial intelligence would automatically close down Mubai Pavilion.

The butler had already checked the Li family's defense center earlier; no anomalies had occurred last night, which meant everything remained within a safe margin.

Or perhaps Ye Mu’s disappearance had bypassed the defense system, preventing it from detecting her.

"But that is simply impossible."

This defense system was linked to the City Lord’s defense system, which in turn originated from the main city—meaning it belonged to the Arya series. How could a system renowned for detecting information on Kings fail to detect even a young girl now?

"Xiaolian, we're home. Don't run around, or Big Brother will be unhappy when he gets back." Yesterday's garbage still littered the streets of the district, and the morning air was tainted with a faint smell of decay, but the girl paid no heed to it, her eyes fixed firmly on the building at the very end of the alleyway.

No one knew what the girl was seeing in her eyes, nor did anyone know whom she kept talking to, and least of all what she had experienced on her journey from the inner district to the outer district.

Yet the girl was smiling now. She still remembered what her Big Brother had told her before he left: "I'm leaving this key for Mu'er. From now on, Mu'er is my little housekeeper."

She still remembered how Ye Bai had stroked her head back then, placing the key in her palm, while she had naively believed that life would only get better and better, and that Big Brother would spend more and more time accompanying her.

As the key was inserted into the keyhole and the lock's spring clicked, a wave of musty air drifted out from the room.

Sitting in the recliner, the elderly butler suddenly thought of a place—the place where Ye Mu was most likely to appear.

Whether it was the Li estate or Mubai Pavilion, Ye Mu had spent less than five months combined in those places, but that humble dwelling was where she had grown up since childhood.

After giving instructions to the servants, the old butler hurried toward the outer district.

"Xiaolian, look here, here, and here—they all bear traces of Big Brother. Do you think he's coming back soon?" In truth, almost nothing was left inside the old house where Ye Bai and Ye Mu had lived.

Ye Mu kept pointing in various directions inside Ye Bai's room, continually recounting their past to someone unknown.

"Look at this scratch. That's when Mu'er and Big Brother were playing when we were little, and I accidentally knocked him over and he bumped into it." As she spoke, Ye Mu’s face turned bitter again, as if feeling guilty for her childhood mischief.

"And there, and there." Seemingly remembering something else, Ye Mu hurried over to a pillar in the main hall, pointing at a mark on it and saying, "These are our heights, and Mom used to carve them for us here every single year."

Back here, Ye Mu's words gradually increased, even though she was speaking only to herself.

"This must be the place." Checking the address he had tracked down, the elderly butler arrived before the small house at the end of the outer district alley.

"I haven't been here in decades. Things have really changed a lot." The butler remembered the last time he visited the outer district; houses like this were only found near the border of the inner district. Places this far from the inner center were mostly wooden shacks.

"The door is locked?" The old butler pushed hard against the door, then leaned against it to listen. "Then where could she have gone?"

"Xiaolian, what should we do? Someone is here. Could they be trying to stop me from seeing Big Brother?" Ye Mu’s unwashed face was filled with panic as she frantically looked around for a place to hide, but the room had already been stripped bare, leaving no hiding spots.

Ye Mu squatted behind the pillar carved with their heights, her eyes fixed tightly on the lock on the door. Yet the lock did not deter the newcomer as Ye Mu had hoped; instead, it slowly turned until the person outside entered.

"Ah, I'm getting old after all." The old butler brushed the dust off his hands, recalling how in his youth, no place in the outer district could have barred his way.

"Ahem." The moment he stepped inside, the old butler was choked by the musty odor into a fit of coughing. He left the door open for a while to let the air circulate before he felt better.

Upon entering, one saw the main hall, and the pillar with the height markings stood in the most prominent spot. Ye Mu squatted behind the pillar, staring at the intruder.

The old butler swept a glance inward, his gaze passing over the pillar more than once, yet he failed to notice anything unusual.

Walking further in, there were three small rooms. After checking them one by one, he found no trace of Ye Mu. Meanwhile, Ye Mu, hiding behind the pillar, kept circling around it, trying to conceal herself behind a pillar that was far too narrow to hide a person.

"Where is she?" For a moment, the old butler was bewildered. The probability of Ye Mu being here was the highest, yet she was not around. He had noticed that the dust in the keyhole was disturbed and fresh, indicating someone had just been there.

He assumed Ye Mu had locked the door again after coming in, but upon entering, he found no one—not even a single footprint on the floor.

The butler passed through the main hall once more, cast a final sweep of his eyes, and walked out.

"How can this be?" Unable to think of anywhere else Ye Mu might go besides these places, and checking the time, he had no choice but to give up for now and look elsewhere in the afternoon.

The elderly butler never returned there that afternoon. Left alone at home, Ye Mu waited for her Big Brother. Gradually, the sky grew dark; here, darkness descended even earlier, and barely past six o'clock, the room was completely pitch black.

By the window, a curled-up figure on the wooden bed had fallen asleep. Her pink short-sleeved shirt was covered in dust, and her once-white shoes had turned black, but looking closely, one would notice a smile curving the corners of the girl's lips.

"Xiaolian, is that Big Brother? Why is he so far away? Shall we go find him?"

Ye Mu stood upon a grassy field. Before her, the figure that had always accompanied her without ever revealing its form finally showed its true appearance.

It was no larger than a palm, clad in a black dress, yet despite standing right in front of Ye Mu, its face remained perpetually obscured.

Ye Mu did not know how it had appeared; perhaps it had existed ever since she first laid eyes on the black lotus. It seemed to be a part of Ye Mu herself—understanding what she understood, thinking what she thought, and even capable of fulfilling her innermost wishes.

The black figure flew swiftly forward, heading in the direction of Ye Bai, with Ye Mu following closely behind.

For the first time, the distance between the black figure and Ye Mu slowly narrowed.

Meanwhile, in the world of dreams, while the sky outside was merely growing dim, the old house was pitch black with an eerie intensity, as if about to vanish from the world entirely.

At this moment, the pink short-sleeved shirt, black trousers, and white shoes Ye Mu wore began to slowly fade, replaced by a pure black long dress that materialized faintly in the dark.

"Big Brother!" Ye Mu sprinted across the grass. The black figure accelerated, its form growing increasingly translucent, while Ye Bai’s figure drifted further and further away.

"Big Brother, wait for Mu'er!" Ye Mu refused to give up. This time, she could not let go; she had to catch her brother and never let him leave again.

The black figure sped up, nearly transforming into a streak of black light across the sky. Ye Mu's pace quickened as well, her black dress solidifying almost entirely into reality. A black mole the size of a lotus seed appeared between her eyebrows, growing increasingly luminous and deep.

"Boom."

Black clouds rolled backward, and the entire sky above Muyang City warped into a funnel shape.

"Hey, look, what's wrong with the sky?"

"Hey, hey, hey, what is happening to the sky?"

In an instant, the entire Muyang City felt as though it had been isolated, filling everyone with unease.

"This is?" Inside the Muyang City Lord's mansion, the City Lord stared at the intelligent core disconnecting from the Arya system, sensing that something was gravely wrong.

"Boom." Another muffled sound echoed, and all the abnormal noises vanished, restoring everything to normal.

"Contact the main city," the City Lord of Muyang said, watching the intelligent system as it attempted to reboot.

Muyang City returned to normal, and the old house returned to normal as well, but the young girl inside had vanished.

"Big Brother, you finally came to find Mu'er." Dressed in a black gown, with a black lotus seed mole between her brows and a radiant smile on her lips, the girl finally caught up to her brother and threw herself into his embrace.

"Mu'er, Big Brother hasn't accompanied you for so long. You don't blame him, do you?"

"No, no. Mu'er missed Big Brother so much." The girl nestled tightly in his arms.

"Mu'er, let Big Brother tell you something, okay?" The boy stroked the girl's head, his eyes filled with reluctance.

"From now on, Mu'er must live a good life. Big Brother can no longer stay with you."

As soon as those words fell, the entire dream world plunged into absolute darkness, and Ye Mu transformed into a massive black cocoon.

In the lord territory of the Ghost Wood Mountains, in a place where no human dared to tread, a massive black cocoon descended from the sky.