It was like waking from a nightmare with no end in sight.
She had been imprisoned for too long.
Ever since the Unified Bureau had killed her with a cursed bullet, forcing her to assimilate with the Blood Calamity, she had remained sealed within the crystalline pillar formed from bloodwater, asleep within that chaotic consciousness.
She had not even known what had happened.
But after a brief moment to catch her breath, a faint light finally emerged in those hollow eyes.
Lying on the ground, she stared blankly at the pitch-black "sky," as though she understood a little.
Her parched lips slowly parted.
"Mariana?"
"Yes."
Huai Shi nodded and pulled out a greeting gift from his pocket: fruit hard candy. "Want one? It'll replenish your sugar and make you feel happier."
As though she had not seen it, Gloria remained dazed, but soon accepted the reality before her.
"What... time is it now?"
"The middle of the War of All Realms."
Huai Shi shrugged regretfully, tossed the candy into his mouth, and crunched it to pieces. "You've been locked up here for fifteen years."
"..."
Gloria's lips moved as though she wanted to say something.
But in the end, she said nothing.
She merely closed her eyes.
"Liu Dongli wanted to get you out," Huai Shi said. "He put a great deal of thought into it, a very great deal. You shouldn't let down his efforts and sacrifices."
"Liu... Dongli?"
Gloria seemed to sink into her memories. After a long while, she gave a suddenly enlightened chuckle. "That child who liked to cry?"
Huai Shi shook his head. "I don't know whether he likes crying, but he definitely likes losing hair."
"Just like his father."
Gloria forced a smile and opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But a shattering