Abyss Prison

Within the deep dream, Bai Wei quietly watched the despondent Ai De Wen.

Yes, he had been here all along, witnessing Ai De Wen gradually uncover the truth, then slowly shift from extreme excitement to his current dejection and despair.

It had to be said, it was quite interesting. After all, in the game's story, the players had likewise learned of Visas's birth through Ai De Wen, and Ai De Wen had collapsed helplessly in his chair just as he did now. It was practically a recreation of the scene, as if the cutscene CG had played again.

In the game, Ai De Wen had essentially exited the story after suffering such a blow, with no further plot afterward. He was the quintessential mad scholar who had given everything in pursuit of Visas's power, only to discover in the end that it had all been for nothing.

But now, Bai Wei had no intention of letting Ai De Wen leave the stage, so he snapped his fingers soundlessly.

A new Memory Body suddenly appeared on the empty table beside Ai De Wen.

Only after doing all this did Bai Wei leisurely fade away.

A while later, Ai De Wen, preparing to leave the dream, noticed the Memory Body and froze.

Why was there another one?

Ai De Wen clearly remembered there being only six. Every one of his clones had taken one; there should not have been any left over.

Could it be...

After a brief daze, Ai De Wen abruptly rose to his feet and nervously scanned his surroundings.

His deep dream had been invaded!

Who could it be? The Lord of Eternal Nightmare?

No, impossible.

If it had been the Lord of Eternal Nightmare, he absolutely would not have survived until now. But if even the Lord of Eternal Nightmare could not lay a finger on his deep dream, who else in this world could possibly do it?

He would never believe that he had simply miscounted the extra Memory Body.

"Who is it?!" Ai De Wen shouted. "Why hide in the corner? Since you are already here, why not come out and speak?"

Unfortunately, no one answered him. In the empty deep dream, there was only Ai De Wen's own echo.

Naturally, this caused Ai De Wen's pressure to surge. In this world, apart from the Lord of Eternal Nightmare, theoretically no one could surpass him in the art of dreams.

Yet now, someone had unknowingly invaded his deepest dream. Had the other party not revealed a flaw, he would not even have noticed by now.

No, it could not even be called a flaw. The other party had deliberately allowed him to notice, yet even so, Ai De Wen still could not catch the slightest trace of them. Not even a sliver. How could that not fill him with fear and despair? He had just been shaken by Visas's... Hm?

Ai De Wen suddenly thought of something.

Could it be...

He turned his gaze back to the Memory Body that had appeared out of nowhere. Judging by its composition, it was no different from the previous ones.

Was it possible that this Memory Body had not been given to him by an intruder, but had only come into being after he learned the complete taboo?

This was not impossible. On the contrary, such methods were common in the dream world. Only after learning one, two, and three would four appear. Just as Ai De Wen had previously worried whether learning all the taboos would trigger some kind of mutation.

And now, it seemed this was the mutation.

Otherwise, Ai De Wen truly could not explain who could have invaded his deep dream.

And if this Memory Body was truly as Ai De Wen suspected, extra information, then what could it be?

Ai De Wen narrowed his eyes slightly. He tried to calm himself, but his heartbeat, pounding like war drums, exposed his state of mind.

What if—he meant, what if—that taboo had not ended yet, and what lay before him was the true taboo?

Once that thought sprang into Ai De Wen's mind, it could no longer be suppressed.

And he had no choice, did he?

So after taking a deep breath, Ai De Wen walked to the table and reached out toward the Memory Body.

As the information contained within the Memory Body spread through his mind, Ai De Wen's pupils gradually dilated, like dying firewood suddenly bursting into flame once more.

"So that's how it is..." he murmured. "So... it's there."

The next second, Ai De Wen left the dream and woke up.

At a glance, he saw He Wei Ni Ya sitting leisurely within the magic array. Without bothering to ask whether she had learned anything, he immediately sprang to his feet.

"I know, I know!" Ai De Wen shouted excitedly. "I know where Visas's power is!"

He Wei Ni Ya glanced sideways at Ai De Wen and pretended to know nothing. "Didn't you say it was hidden within that taboo?"

"Yes, and no."

"If you do not make yourself clearer," He Wei Ni Ya said flatly, "I will tear out your tongue."

"That taboo itself does not contain power!" Ai De Wen said quickly. "But it points to a direction!"

"What direction?"

"Where Visas's power is!" Ai De Wen stopped beating around the bush. "Abyss Prison in the Contract Land! That is where Visas left everything!"

He Wei Ni Ya looked at Ai De Wen as though he were an idiot.

"You are not about to tell me that your next target is the Contract Land, are you?"

"It is Abyss Prison! The most heavily guarded place in the Contract Land—they have guarded it for a thousand years!" Ai De Wen said. "Because Visas's strongest power is there! As long as we obtain it, we can... I am not lying to you. Believe me!"

He Wei Ni Ya's staff was already pressed against Ai De Wen's throat, and her voice was exceptionally cold. "You clearly told me that once we unraveled that taboo, we would obtain the power, and once we obtained it, you would share it with me. But now you are telling me we need to go to some Abyss Prison. Do you think I do not know what kind of place that is? If you want to die, just say so. Do not drag me down with you."

Ai De Wen had expected He Wei Ni Ya to react this way. After all, the Contract Land stood above the Eight Great Churches. The two of them trying to steal something the Contract Land had guarded for a thousand years was indeed nothing more than a fool's dream.

If He Wei Ni Ya had agreed outright, Ai De Wen would only have thought that she was either plotting against him or had no brain.

Therefore, Ai De Wen was not surprised by He Wei Ni Ya's reaction, and he had already thought of how to persuade her.

"If it were before, we truly would have had no chance," Ai De Wen said in a low voice. "But now, things are different."

"How are they different?"

"The Contract Land and the Eight Great Churches are holding an assembly!" Ai De Wen said. "Do you know what that means?!"

He Wei Ni Ya said nothing, merely continuing to gather magical power, ready to blast Ai De Wen into pieces.

"Fine, fine, I will not beat around the bush anymore!" Ai De Wen raised both hands and shouted, "It means Abyss Prison's defenses are at their weakest in a thousand years!"

He Wei Ni Ya stopped gathering magical power, but she did not lower her staff.

"Someone is helping us draw their attention away!" Ai De Wen lowered his voice. "So this is an opportunity, a true once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. Do you not want to seize it? You should understand what I mean. I know you have a corpse fragment on you. No one understands better than you just how powerful Visas's power is, and inside Abyss Prison is the strongest portion. Do you really not want it?!"

He Wei Ni Ya did not speak. She merely watched Ai De Wen quietly, her pitch-black eyes placing immense pressure on him, as though she might gather magical power and kill him the next second.

But Ai De Wen had no way back. He had already given up so much, and he could not turn back now. Abyss Prison was his final promised land. And without He Wei Ni Ya's help, he could accomplish nothing alone.

"Believe me, this is the last time," Ai De Wen said, stressing every word. "We are truly only one final step away from success."

He Wei Ni Ya continued watching Ai De Wen. Only after a long while did she finally lower her staff.

"Then let us go take a look," He Wei Ni Ya said. "But if we succeed, that power belongs to me."

Ai De Wen smiled. "No problem!"

He Wei Ni Ya nodded, then turned and left.

Watching He Wei Ni Ya's retreating figure, Ai De Wen smiled even wider.

Idiot, she took the bait.

That was what he thought.

But what he did not see was that He Wei Ni Ya, after turning away, also curled her lips slightly.

Idiot, he took the bait.

Contract Land, Abyss Prison.

Diana sat in the Warden's seat, listening to a subordinate's report.

"So the inspection of the seals throughout the prison will not take place for another fifty years?"

"More precisely, fifty-two years," the subordinate replied neither servilely nor arrogantly. "Routine seal inspections have always been conducted once every hundred years. It has only been forty-eight years since the last inspection."

Diana nodded slightly.

The subordinate before her was not one of her servants, but one of the Warden's subordinates.

The Guardians of the Contract Land were roughly divided into two groups. One group consisted of the Warden's Guardians. Most of them had been transferred from the major churches, along with descendants produced by the Guardians themselves, and they pledged direct loyalty to the Warden. The other group consisted of the attendants of successive "Contractors," namely Diana's servants. Of course, nominally, they too were subordinates of the Warden alongside Diana.

The two groups were responsible for different work. The Guardians' duties were simple: maintaining and inspecting the seals throughout Abyss Prison. Like the Warden himself, they did not interfere in any other trivial matters apart from those related to the seals.

Diana and her attendants, meanwhile, handled everything unrelated to the seals, such as transactions with black-market merchants and the food, clothing, shelter, and daily needs of the Contract Land's tens of thousands of residents. Simply put, they were more like the stewards of the Contract Land.

Neither side interfered with the other's duties. The Warden did not care what the successive Contractors did, and the successive Contractors did not manage the prison's seals.

But now was an exception. The Warden had taken a large number of Guardians to Obedience of Heavenly Voice, so the various affairs of Abyss Prison naturally fell onto Diana's shoulders.

That was why Diana sat in the Warden's seat and asked that question. She had then received the answer she had long known.

Routine inspections of Abyss Prison's seals took place once every hundred years. Diana had not even been born during the last one, and this was not because the people of the Contract Land were too lazy, but because the inspections consumed too much. There were over a thousand kinds of seals. Thus, even with the Eight Great Churches supporting them together, the inspections could not be conducted too frequently.

And now, two of the Eight Great Churches were gone, so future support would decrease further. It was quite possible that they would not even be able to maintain the once-per-century schedule.

That was also why the Warden wanted to bring the entire Contract Land into the world. He wanted the Contract Land to replace one of the churches, then personally maintain Abyss Prison.

Yes, everything was for Abyss Prison. If the Eight Great Churches had remained without issue, the Warden would never have considered entering the world. Everything he did was to keep Abyss Prison functioning normally. The reason the Contract Land had been able to fulfill its duty for a thousand years was precisely because it had a leader as pure and powerful as the Warden.

But not everyone was like him.

Resting her cheek against one hand, Diana asked seemingly casually, "The Warden transferred so many Guardians away. Is the remaining manpower still sufficient for the human seals?"

Human seals, just as the name implied, were seals maintained by people.

This did not merely include daily patrols and inspections, but also sealing arrays sustained by the magical power and mental strength within human bodies. Generally speaking, such seals consumed enormous amounts of energy, so the Guardians had to rotate shifts without interruption. That was why the Contract Land had to keep transferring personnel from the major churches.

They were like firewood—firewood that could be burned repeatedly. But if the burning became too frequent, they would eventually truly burn out.

Thus, by taking so many Guardians away this time, the Warden was shortening the rotation of the human seals and increasing the consumption of the existing "firewood."

"Barely sufficient," the subordinate answered. "As long as the Warden returns on time, there will be no problem."

"It will not be that soon," Diana said flatly. "This is no small matter. Let my people help maintain the seals as well."

The subordinate hesitated. "Would that not be somewhat..."

Overstepping.

The Contractor was interfering with the Guardians' duties.

"Times have changed," Diana replied. "The Eight Great Churches have suffered enormous losses. We will not have so many Guardians in the future. If we overconsume the Guardians now, we will be the ones to suffer the consequences later. Do as I say. I will explain it to the Warden when he returns... This is an order."

The subordinate immediately placed a hand over his chest. "Understood."

With that, Diana successfully achieved her purpose.

Although she did not intend to follow Hand Eye's suggestion and frame Isaiah by damaging Abyss Prison's seals.

However, "not intending to" did not mean "being unable to." At the very least, she needed to ensure that she possessed the means to do so, so she could respond swiftly should the situation change in the future.

And now, her goal had been achieved.

Thus, just as Diana prepared to turn her attention to Obedience of Heavenly Voice and see what was happening there, she received Carter's report.

"Master, Right Eye has approached Thumb."