"How did you know my name?"
Yan walked toward Wei Zitong step by step, her tone calm and easygoing. She looked very approachable, yet Wei Zitong felt an invisible pressure.
It was not fear, but rather awkwardness, embarrassment, or perhaps the unconscious nervousness of meeting someone he admired. His heart raced. Just like Ge Xiaolun when he saw Du Qiangwei, Wei Zitong felt that one day, he would surely give something of himself for the beautiful Angel before him.
"I, I..." Wei Zitong stammered, unable to even speak clearly. In the end, he could only force out one sentence. "I can't say!"
In fact, Yan had already begun reading Wei Zitong's information as she approached him. A milky white glow covered her eyes, but to her surprise, she could only access his basic information, such as his name, family, height, and weight. She had no authorization to read anything further, such as Wei Zitong's past.
The milky white glow faded from Yan's eyes. Smiling, she said, "Don't be nervous, kid. It's fine if you won't say. There are plenty of people in the Known Universe who know my name. For example, every old Demon hates me to the bone..."
"No, no, no, I didn't learn it from Demons. I, I..." Wei Zitong hurriedly waved his hands in explanation, but halfway through, he forcibly shut his mouth. He had already seen the sly grin in Yan's eyes, the look of a scheme about to succeed.
A trap. It was all a trap! Sure enough, he could not talk too much with someone who had lived for seven thousand years. The more he said, the more mistakes he would make!
Seeing that Wei Zitong had no intention of continuing, Yan showed no disappointment. Instead, she looked at him teasingly. "From the sound of it, you seem to know a lot about Demons? I scanned the place. It seems Earth doesn't have any Demons yet, does it?"
"I don't want to talk!" Wei Zitong decisively used Silent Zen on himself, extinguishing all desire to communicate. Every extra word he spoke in front of Yan made him feel as though she saw through him a little more. He figured that if they talked for an hour or two, Yan might even pry out the fact that he was a transmigrator, though she probably would not believe something that absurd.
"Oh, what a fascinating ability. I can feel it—your desire to communicate has completely vanished!" Yan was greatly surprised. "When I scanned Earth, I discovered that your family has many deeper secrets. Do you want to know?"
Wei Zitong sat as still as an old monk in meditation, completely ignoring Yan's deliberate attempt to pique his interest.
"You don't believe me?" Yan continued to provoke him. She felt that she had encountered a major challenge. Today, she absolutely had to stir up this kid's desire to communicate. Turning to Wei Zixue beside them, she said, "You tell him whether I'm telling the truth."
"Yes!" Wei Zixue dropped to one knee. "This is our faith in you!"
Wei Zitong was actually very interested already, but he simply did not want to speak. Silent Zen was too powerful; even he could not break free of it.
Seeing that Wei Zitong still had no intention of opening his mouth, Yan did not lose heart. She merely smiled and said, "Then let's go take a look!"
"This way, please!" Wei Zixue was exceedingly respectful. She did not dare treat Yan's instruction as a game.
They took the elevator down to the third basement level of Angel International Building. The two humans and one Angel entered a pitch-black hall. Before Wei Zixue could do anything, an almost imperceptible glint flashed through Yan's eyes, and every light in the hall came on.
Wei Zixue was somewhat startled by that display, while Wei Zitong was unsurprised. As a transmigrator, he knew just how miraculous Angels' abilities were. Earth's technology was nothing more than children's toys to them.
What concerned him more was this hall, which he had never visited before. It was seven or eight meters tall, far exceeding the height of an ordinary building floor. The second and third basement levels had likely been connected.
The entire hall covered over a thousand square meters. Five massive pillars, each thick enough for one person to wrap their arms around, supported the center. Yet despite its vastness, the hall contained few furnishings. The most eye-catching sight was the enormous Angel statue in the middle, standing a full five meters tall.
The Angel statue was lifelike, every texture of its skin rendered in exquisite detail. Its attire was very similar to Yan's, European-style armor paired with a short skirt. The only difference was that the Angel statue held a Flame Sword in its hand!
Yes, as both a transmigrator and an anime fan, Wei Zitong was absolutely certain that it was the Flame Sword!
He was astonished that an Angel statue was enshrined beneath Angel International Building. Upon seeing Wei Zixue and Angel Yan arrive, several white-robed people who had been sitting around the statue in prayer rose and approached, then knelt on one knee before Yan.
"Greetings, Angel!"
Wei Zitong's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, because among those people were individuals he knew very well. More accurately, they were all blood relatives of the Original Body Owner and Wei Zixue—their father and mother, uncles, even their grandfather and grandmother.
"All right, all right, children, get up!" Yan waved kindly. She did not skimp on her care for Angel believers in the slightest. "We don't do that here. Angels never enslave their believers. We only hope that you live happily and peacefully!"
Wei Zitong had never expected Angel International to have been established by a group of Angel believers. It seemed the Original Body Owner's resentment toward his sister should have faded away. Whether she could inherit the family business was not something Wei Zixue could choose. As a wastrel, the Original Body Owner surely could not shoulder such a burden. Only his diligent and ambitious sister, Wei Zixue, was the best choice!
"Hehehe, kid, do you want to know who this statue depicts?" Yan turned and looked at Wei Zitong teasingly. "As long as you say you want to know, I'll tell you."
Only then did Wei Zitong raise his head and carefully study the Angel statue's face. The longer he looked, the more the figure of an Angel surfaced in his mind—Azhui!
As far as he knew, the only Angel who had continuously patrolled Earth over the past two thousand years was Azhui. Once that image took shape in his mind, the statue looked more and more like Azhui.
When Yan saw the unconscious curve at the corner of Wei Zitong's lips, she knew he had probably already identified the statue's owner. She said coolly, "You guessed right. This is Azhui's statue. For the past two thousand years, the one who has come to patrol Earth has always been Azhui."
Just as I thought. But Wei Zitong was quickly scared into breaking out in a cold sweat by his smug expression. It seemed he had fallen for another trap!
Sure enough, Yan's gaze became increasingly meaningful. "It seems you really do know quite a lot about Angels. Tell me, besides Azhui and me, which other sisters do you know?"
I won't say it. Not even if you beat me to death! Wei Zitong's eyelids twitched wildly. Angels are too devious. I want to be a Demon... pfft, I want to be an ordinary person!
Seeing Wei Zitong's flushed face and utterly despondent expression, Yan smiled in satisfaction. Seemingly forgetting her earlier challenge, she waved her hand. "All right, all right, I won't tease you anymore. It isn't that difficult to learn this information. It doesn't matter if you know it!"
I'd be a fool to believe that. Even the descendants of De Nuo don't know that much about Angels. How could it possibly be easy for an ordinary Earthling like me to know this information?
After all this, Wei Zitong felt that more than half his dreams had crumbled. In truth, it was his transmigrator mentality at work. He should not have called out Yan's name directly just to catch her attention. Any Angel who encountered an ordinary intelligent being from a Low-Level Civilization casually calling her by name would become wary, suspecting that the being might be an Angel's enemy in disguise.
But Yan truly did not make things difficult for Wei Zitong again. That left him feeling oddly disappointed. He could not explain this restless mix of hope and anxiety. He felt as though he had become another version of Ge Xiaolun.
Every inadvertent glance Yan cast his way made Wei Zitong excited for a long while, but whenever Yan ignored him, he would feel dejected for even longer.
Finally, when Yan had finished speaking with Angel International's believers and was preparing to leave, Wei Zitong called out the full name, "Yan Augustus!"
He was also confirming a suspicion he had held for a very long time.
Yan turned her head somewhat blankly. How many years had it been? How many years since anyone had spoken that complete name? She could barely remember. She simply calculated it in her mind. It had probably been nearly seven thousand years.
"I'm sorry..." Wei Zitong lowered his head guiltily. Seeing Yan's reaction confirmed the suspicion in his heart, but what came next? How was he supposed to explain it? He found that whenever he faced Yan, he was prone to getting carried away and doing many irrational things!
Yan's blank expression turned indifferent. She did not ask why Wei Zitong knew her real name. Instead, she spread her wings and soared into the sky, leaving behind only one sentence that echoed through the air...
"Remember this name. No matter how you learned it, remember this name, and never forget it!"
Before you continue