After deciding to ignore Bai, Brando gripped the broken protrusions beneath the ice and carefully climbed upward. Since he had no idea how deep underground the avalanche had carried him, he also had no idea how long it would take to reach the surface.
But after passing through several jagged ice-faults, he suddenly remembered what Bai had said about those fragments. Recalling what he had seen in her dream, he asked, "So after that, you joined the Circle of Unity for the sake of the other half of the fragments?"
"What?"
"I mean the fragments of the other half of the Heart of Xifah. After you left Wilford, you must have been searching for them all this time, right?"
Bai fell silent. After thinking for a moment, Brando understood her concern and replied, "You really don't have to worry about it. I'm not interested in anything eternal and indestructible. I'm merely curious whether such a thing truly exists in this world. If you really don't want to talk about it, we can drop the subject."
"That won't be necessary." Bai's voice rang out faintly. "I did join the Circle of Unity to find that fragment. After leaving Wilford, I began searching for its whereabouts. Later, by chance, I learned that the Circle of Unity was also searching for those fragments."
"The Circle of Unity was searching for them too?" Brando couldn't help interrupting her.
"Of course. I have my own methods and sources of information. They've hardly ever failed me in the past thousand years. That was how I learned of the Heart of Xifah's existence and found Wilford's family."
When she mentioned her methods, Bai's voice sounded calm and confident.
"But how did you confirm that they weren't interested in the Heart of Xifah itself... or in something eternal