The Sky Patrol Shuttle broke through the chaotic energy belt at the edge of the Annihilation Star Domain and finally returned to a relatively stable region of the starsea. The atmosphere inside was grim. Lei Lie sat cross-legged, tending to his injuries; Yun Yi piloted at full speed; Bao Bao stood nervously beside Li Wuyang.
Li Wuyang knelt halfway to the floor and carefully laid the unconscious White-clothed Woman flat on a makeshift padded mat. Staring at that face from so close—a face identical to Xuan's, yet paler and more fragile—his heart felt as though an invisible hand had clenched it tightly, making it hard for him to breathe. The icy chill beneath his fingertips sent waves of palpitations through him.
Why were there two Xuans? What was the relationship between the embryo nurtured within his heart and the body before him, which seemed to carry the source? Why had she been gravely wounded and unconscious at the edge of the Annihilation Star Domain? And why had she called his name while unconscious?
Countless questions surged over him like a tide. He cautiously extended his divine sense into the woman's body, only to be blocked by an incredibly resilient barrier filled with Annihilation Dao Rhyme. It seemed to protect her final thread of life, yet it also cut off all outside probing.
Xuan... can you hear me? Who... is she? Li Wuyang could only ask the embryo in his heart, whose consciousness had awakened but had fallen silent again after exhausting too much power.
The embryo trembled faintly, sending out an incomparably complex and chaotic wave of intent mixed with sorrow, longing, confusion, and... an indescribable trace of fear. It was as though he had touched some taboo she was unwilling to remember. Blurry, fragmented memory scenes flooded intermittently into