Eerie Investigation Bureau, fifth underground level.
Zhang Yiyu woke in the records room, still shaken.
At the end of the Instance, she had killed Jiang Jue and lain down in the coffin, only to realize afterward that someone had to fill the pit with dirt before she could successfully travel to another time and space.
She felt the scorching heat outside through the coffin lid and dared not venture out to seek another way to survive. All she could do was curl up in the coffin in despair and wait for death to come.
She waited and waited, until the ashes left by the forest after the flames had burned out covered the coffin lid, until wind carried dust from afar and deposited it layer by layer in the pit, gradually burying the sunken grave.
A distant loneliness and silence entwined around her. There was no sound in the darkness. She did not know how long she had waited; perhaps she had slept through a hundred years of silence, perhaps so long that she was willing to let death end her suffering.
But she did not want to die. More than anyone, she wanted to live. She still had a mother who loved her. They had only each other...
At last, the grave mound was dug open.
At last, the Instance was over.
At last, she woke up.
Zhang Yiyu gasped for breath, only to see a long, narrow shadow cast against the light from the doorway. It fell over her, severing her own shadow in two.
Ning Xu walked in with the exact same smile as before. "Zhang Yiyu, I need to ask you a few questions. I hope you'll answer them seriously."
"—If you don't answer well, I'm afraid you'll only be locked back in the containment room."