Chapter 925: Baton
How can one lead the way in a place with no paths?
Lin Sanjiu's gaze followed the towering iron gate, extending until it was swallowed by the distant mist, before returning to Silvan.
"People who are unfamiliar with the Twelve Organizations often have a misunderstanding," the backlit blond man said, seemingly smiling at her in the dim night. He pointed towards the imposing iron gate and spoke softly, "Each organization occupies its own territory with its own buildings. So outsiders always assume that they are adjacent but unrelated."
"Isn't that the case?" Lin Sanjiu tilted her head and looked at him.
The force field on him seemed to encounter some resistance, inching its way forward with great difficulty. His breathing was slightly hurried, but much more stable than her previous state.
"That's because they want the rest of the world to have this misconception."
Though not his native language, Silvan's deep and melodious voice carried a strange and natural rhythm, as if it could attract and disturb one's mind, pulling them into the depths of that voice, shrouded in smoke.
"What do you mean?" Lin Sanjiu asked, puzzled.
"Do you like music?" Silvan's low voice chuckled softly. It felt as if a hand had suddenly clenched around her heart, only to release it gently.
"I... I quite like it," Lin Sanjiu replied, slightly bewildered.
Silvan smiled softly, as if several hands had suddenly released her heart.
"I have always been grateful for the existence of music. The notes produced by various instruments form what seems to be different voices, but they respond to each other, intertwine, and finally resonate into beautiful music."
Lin Sanjiu couldn't understand the connection between this and the Twelve Organizations, or the current way out. She could only gaze at him in confusion.
Silvan didn't explain further; he simply turned back and gestured to her. His finger tapped on the wall-like iron gate, and she understood.
Before taking action, she took one last look at Naga-ashi lying on the ground not far away.
She would never see it again, never worry about it attacking her. The shop that sold milk ice cream might be empty for a few days before another duoluozhong replaced it. That duoluozhong, who actively offered to be her guide and diligently saved money for its goal, would disappear from the universe like countless other lives. Even if it left any mark, it would be like footprints on the beach, quickly erased by the wind and waves.
Not only it, Lin Sanjiu glanced at Silvan and then lowered her gaze, taking two steps back.
We will all come to that day when no one remembers our existence, our lives, our joys, and sorrows.
She lowered her body and rushed towards the iron gate with tremendous speed. Using her own momentum, she swung her hand and sent a wave of consciousness that caught onto the edge of the gate. With a flip, she climbed up to the top.
Like a sudden surge of waves crashing against a cliff, starlight fell into her field of view.
While on the ground, it was difficult to accurately judge the width of such a towering gate that rose from the earth. It was only when she flipped up that Lin Sanjiu was astonished to find that the gate was wide enough to accommodate a car passing through. She took a few steps back and forth, then stopped to look into the distance. The long wall standing high in the air extended into the night ahead, as if she could run along it indefinitely, running into the sky, running towards the unknown end of the world.
Silvan's shadow silently fell at her feet.
"Do you see the Munitions Factory in the distance?" His hoarse and gentle voice emerged like a wave from the depths of a dream. "Do you know why I want it?"
Lin Sanjiu shook her head. The lines forming the shadow of the steel factory were devoid of emotion, straight and reliably connected, forming a vague and solid silhouette in the distance.
"It's because I have the ability to obtain it."
Silvan lowered his head on her shoulder, and his breath, along with warm exhalations, brushed against her neck. "It's one of the few things in this world that can belong to me... Although there have been some twists and turns in obtaining it, it still belongs to me. I sympathize with those who try to stand between me and it."
Lin Sanjiu's heart skipped a beat, but she restrained herself from responding.
Could it be that he already guessed—guessed why she came alone?
In her silent state, Silvan sighed softly. She felt as though he had turned his head to glance in the direction where Naga-ashi's corpse lay.
"I hope you can appreciate the music performed by the Twelve Organizations tonight, just as I do," he whispered. "Next, I will demonstrate something to you that only a few people in the doomsday world know."
Before Lin Sanjiu could react, she suddenly felt a slight tremor beneath her feet.
It was unimaginable that such a heavy, wide, and towering steel gate could move so silently. The faint sound of friction dissipated into the night with the wind. Only the long iron gate beneath their feet, driven by gears and hinges, opened in segments of ten meters each, gradually dispersing like countless giant building blocks, scattered haphazardly under the night sky.
"The towering Heaven Zone that you see," Silvan's voice gently floated in the hazy light, "is woven together piece by piece like this. I call each unit a 'note.' If you find the right conductor's baton, you can play the music you desire."
Lin Sanjiu stared at everything in front of her, almost dumbfounded. The giant iron gates were divided into two rows, and the ground seemed to fold layer by layer, continuously rolling forward and crawling under their feet due to an invisible force. She could see the narrow paths, walls, and courtyards where she was trapped just a moment ago, engulfed by various shapes of shadows that were scattered under the night sky. This space seemed to suddenly come alive, gradually reshaping itself within the pulsation of muscles, blood vessels, and heartbeats, forming a new appearance.
In its new appearance, the Rare Animals Natural Reserve dispersed like flowing sand, and the Munitions Factory gradually transformed from a distant steel silhouette to rising from the ground—this feeling was strange, unreasonable, but Lin Sanjiu felt it vividly. The familiar steel city seemed to be rising from the ground bit by bit.
"What... What's going on?" she doubted if she was dreaming. "What about the people and monsters in the Natural Reserve?"
"There were never any people in the Natural Reserve," he chuckled affectionately. "Did you see anyone behind the gate?"
No.
"That's right." Lin Sanjiu listened in a daze as he continued, "After years of collaboration, the Twelve Organizations... have achieved symbiosis by taking root in each other. The Twelve Organizations are united, although they still retain their twelve faces. The Natural Reserve you see here is actually another voice woven from a portion of the 'notes' taken from the Munitions Factory. In order to maintain a symbiotic relationship with the Munitions Factory, it can change its appearance at any time, exert different utilities, and the special creatures it cultivates serve as the defense line of the Munitions Factory."
"And coincidentally, I have the conductor's baton that can manipulate this part of the voice."
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