"Alpha..." Bai Xiaowen murmured the name once, then looked around. "Just you?"
The mist-person Alpha replied, "I represent them. We are all here."
As that thought wave arrived, cloaked mist-people materialized one after another around Bai Xiaowen.
Xia Feng was somewhat tense, gripping the hilt of his blade. Remembering what Bai Xiaowen had said—that these "masterminds behind the scenes" had combat strength close to zero in their true forms—he relaxed slightly.
Bai Xiaowen looked around, then nodded at Alpha. "You once sent someone to snipe me?"
Alpha did not deny it in the slightest. "Yes."
"Why did you target me?" Bai Xiaowen had already formed some guesses about this question. He was only asking now to confirm them.
Alpha said, "To stop you from reaching this place."
What a load of nonsense... Bai Xiaowen was speechless for a moment. However, judging from the thought wave, Alpha's attitude was quite sincere; there was no malicious mockery behind his words.
"What does my arrival mean to you?" Bai Xiaowen could only press further. "Why did you target me so much more fiercely than anyone else?"
Alpha said, "The answer to the first question is that your arrival means 'losing ourselves' to us. The answer to the second is that you are the most special one. You pose a threat far beyond anyone else... and the facts have proven it."
"Losing yourselves? Could you be more specific?" Bai Xiaowen felt that he was drawing close to the truth.
Alpha asked, "Do you know of the Creator?"
"I do. The god of creation. After creating the world, It entered slumber." Bai Xiaowen had heard this piece of history back in the Antakhe Old Kingdom.
Alpha said, "The Creator did not fall asleep. It divided itself. Its flesh became the vast starfields and countless living