"You'd better not go around saying such baseless things."
Taking a deep breath, Xilos caught the slight pause in Shen Yi's gaze and instantly understood what Winnie meant. Yet precisely because he understood, he felt that this woman's words were far too outrageous.
"What can or can't be said?"
"Are you the one who fears it, or am I?"
"Can't you even tell which camp you belong to now? Why pretend to be clever and dwell on such illusory things as faith? In your current state, how much sincere, devout faith do you still have in the Mother Goddess Lilith you speak of?"
With a sneer, Winnie looked at Xilos and Fei Mi with an almost inscrutable pity. The provocation in her voice was enough to make even Shen Yi frown.
Those words were too hurtful. They had practically torn open the one wound Xilos found hardest to overcome, laying it bare for all to see. The moment Winnie finished speaking, Xilos's expression changed.
The face that usually carried restrained anger and kept others at a distance now held a barely visible pallor amid her panic. It was as if someone had struck her sore spot. Xilos's chest heaved violently as she opened her mouth, wanting to say something, yet after hesitating for a long while, she could not utter a word.
"Enough."
"The enemy is right in front of us. No one knows what lies ahead, so stop saying things like that."
Shen Yi frowned.
He had not expected Winnie, a woman who seemed eccentric and usually spoke in scattered, rambling fragments, to be so cutting when she truly spoke her mind.
"But Shen Yi, have you never considered this terrifying possibility?"
"If it is true, then the changes in Twilight Abyss and the entire Shadow World are all