The snow fell faster and faster, like a torrential downpour.
Yin Chao turned his head and saw Moon Shadow's body disappearing beneath the drifting snow.
There was nothing he could do. People who died in an Instance were like files that had never been saved.
Once deleted, no trace of their existence could ever be found again.
During that brief moment of distraction, 028's startled cry came from nearby.
Yin Chao looked up and saw a slowly forming black hole, with 028 standing before it, his head lowered as he studied a flowering branch at his feet.
The pitch-black branch looked like a dead twig fallen from some tree, except for the two tender green shoots sprouting at its tip.
"What's this?"
028 directed the question at Yin Chao.
Yin Chao did not answer immediately. He trudged through the wind and snow to 028's side.
The green shoots at the branch's tip began to grow little by little, turning into two flower buds.
Neither of them spoke. In tacit agreement, they waited for the buds to bloom.
Before long, a peach blossom and a magnolia bloomed one after the other.
Their beauty seemed otherworldly, their unfurled petals like exquisite works of art.
Curious, 028 reached out to touch them.
Yin Chao stopped him when his fingertips were less than a centimeter from the petals.
028 looked at Yin Chao in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"Look closely."
Tiny, densely packed, fuzzy spines had risen from the petal he had just been about to touch.
They were difficult to notice at a casual glance, but Yin Chao had heard Yin Rui say that the Twin Flowers had once tried to devour Shang Yi.
That was why he paid particular attention.
"What is..." 028 could not quite make sense of it, but obediently withdrew