Vol 2 : Victoria
Chapter 1: The Train Squad
A dreamless slumber.
Luo Ling slowly opened her eyes to the rhythmic clatter of the train, the world outside the window a perpetual, impenetrable darkness, filled with the unknown terrors of mankind.
This was the train to Victoria.
“I haven’t had any dreams since then…”
Luo Ling’s eyes flickered. She had been hoping to glimpse things unseen in reality within the realm of dreams, even if it meant blurring the lines between dream and reality, even if it meant a less stable mental state.
Just then, she felt a stir in her arms and looked down to see a small, soft loli, her red hair spread out like a thin blanket.
“Elsa, you’re in my bed again!”
“Mm, Miss Luo Ling…”
Elsa rubbed her eyes, rolled over, and snuggled closer.
“You two seem close,” a cheerful voice echoed, and Cen Xiangyun looked at them with amusement.
“Indeed, indeed. I didn’t expect Xiao Qian… oh, I mean Elsa, to be so affectionate. If the others in the group saw this, they would be shocked.”
Another voice came from above, belonging to a quiet-looking woman in Republican-era clothing, fiddling with her braids, a playful glint in her eyes behind her round-rimmed glasses.
Lu Manqing, daughter of Ji Shinian and Lu Fangling, the once mysterious second administrator of the exchange group, always dressed in Republican-era style.
As for why these individuals, not even High-Order Awakened Ones, were traveling to Victoria with Luo Ling…
Firstly, Elsa was originally from Victoria. She was Scientist’s experiment, although her origins were unknown, she had been in a laboratory in Victoria before escaping.
Cen Xiangyun, after the battle on the train, had gained the ability to perceive the Realm of Nothingness, although she had been mentally exhausted for a long time afterward.
Having met the requirements to travel to Victoria, and with her family’s close ties to the Company, going to headquarters was a natural choice.
Luo Ling wasn’t very familiar with Lu Manqing, only knowing that she had also perceived the Realm of Nothingness and had joined the Company and gone to headquarters at her parents’ request.
The train journey to Victoria would take three days and three nights. After all, they were traversing both Boundaries and vast distances, so this special train only had sleeper cars.
Luo Ling, Elsa, Cen Xiangyun, and Lu Manqing shared a compartment. Elsa, whose bed was on the upper bunk, always preferred to sneak down to the lower bunk.
Cen Xiangyun and Lu Manqing seemed to enjoy teasing them about this.
After becoming Luo Ling’s apostle, Elsa was almost like a normal person. She could speak normally, walk, and even type on her phone.
It seemed her previous inability to learn these things wasn’t due to her being slow, but because of the Grotesqueries sealed within her.
So, Elsa now used her real name.
“Just saying, if Miss Luo Ling wants to cuddle with Big Sister like little Elsa, I wouldn’t refuse~”
Cen Xiangyun, lying on the lower bunk, patted the space beside her and winked at Luo Ling.
Before Luo Ling could react, Elsa, in her arms, snuggled closer.
“Hee hee…”
Two silvery laughs echoed.
Teasing aside, they still had serious matters to discuss.
Cen Xiangyun quickly composed herself and said, “We’ll be arriving in Victoria soon. Do you know anything about it?”
Luo Ling shook her head, and after a moment of hesitation, so did Lu Manqing.
“Not much.”
“Alright, I was supposed to explain, but I was worried about information leakage and contamination, so I didn’t say anything before.”
Cen Xiangyun took a deep breath and began her explanation.
Firstly, Victoria wasn’t a city, but a region, consisting of several neighboring cities and towns.
Due to the Disorder of Boundaries, it was currently stuck in late 1838.
There were two ways a Boundary’s time could change. The first was normal progression. Without any major incidents, a Boundary would progress normally to the 21st century, after the year 2000.
But if a major Grotesquery incident or large-scale Awakened One riot occurred, the Boundary would collapse, its timeline regressing.
And if the Grotesquery incident was even more severe, threatening the entire world, the current Boundary would be completely annihilated, everything within becoming a Disorder. This was the worst possible outcome.
“The Boundary Ji Ying came from met such a fate…”
Luo Ling shuddered.
And it was because of the Puppet Ballad, a High-Risk Grotesquery ranked forty-ninth.
Just that alone could cause an entire Boundary to fall into irreversible Disorder, to be completely annihilated…
What about a higher Sequence Grotesquery?
What about a Taboo?
Luo Ling suddenly realized that both she and the other Awakened Ones had underestimated Grotesqueries.
In other words, a Boundary with a normally progressing timeline hadn’t experienced many Grotesquery disasters, like Jiangcheng County, where ordinary people weren’t even aware of their existence, and even Awakened Ones were rare.
Conversely…
The earlier a Boundary’s timeline, the more Grotesquery incidents it had experienced.
Victoria, stuck almost three hundred years in the past, was such a place, shrouded in the fog of Grotesqueries.
“In Victoria, even ordinary people,” Cen Xiangyun said softly, “are aware of the existence of Grotesquery incidents.”
“How is that possible?”
Luo Ling was surprised. She knew the consequences of ordinary people perceiving Grotesqueries.
Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital housed many such patients, like the man who kept ranting about dandelions.
Because of the Puppet Ballad’s failed control, he had seen the truth, both luckily and unluckily, and had been driven insane.
“I’m not strong enough, yet I can perceive the Realm of Nothingness,” Cen Xiangyun said, pointing to herself. “Actually, as long as you can withstand it, you’ll develop a resistance. The world’s cognitive correction is just to protect our minds, not to truly blind us.”
“But…” she paused, looking at Luo Ling with a strange expression. “You’re the truly strange one. I won’t mention myself, I’ve heard a bit about Miss Lu’s situation from Uncle Shaoheng, and Elsa is originally from Victoria.
“But you, why can you, a mere Low-Order Awakened One, perceive the Realm of Nothingness, and even… walk within it?”
“Perhaps it’s an innate ability, I’m not sure,” Luo Ling said. She wasn’t lying, she genuinely didn’t know.
She was certain that the Realm of Nothingness posed no threat to her in her current form, but she wasn’t sure about her other forms. She had a vague sense of danger.
“By the way, what’s Miss Lu’s story?”
Luo Ling looked up at Lu Manqing, who was doing a handstand on the upper bunk out of boredom.
She knew Lu Manqing was Old Ji’s daughter.
But Old Ji was over a hundred years old, how could he have a daughter in her early twenties…?
“Me?” Lu Manqing raised an eyebrow. “There’s not much to say, similar to Miss Cen, I also endured it.
“As for my story, there’s nothing to hide. Since Miss Luo Ling is interested, I’ll tell you.”
Lu Manqing was indeed Ji Shinian and Lu Fangling’s daughter, but she wasn’t born twenty years ago, but seventy years ago.
Due to a Company mission, her parents had been separated, and Lu Fangling, pregnant at the time, had encountered a High-Risk Grotesquery disaster, causing the Boundary to collapse and regress to the Republican era.
So, Lu Manqing had been born in the Republican era Boundary, hence her clothing style, which she had grown accustomed to.
Not all High-Risk Grotesquery disasters were as sudden as the Jiangcheng County incident. In most cases, numerous incubation barriers would appear simultaneously, even while the Grotesquery was dormant, accumulating power.
The stronger the Grotesquery, the longer the incubation period. That particular High-Risk Grotesquery disaster had lasted for fifteen years.
In fact, the Jiangcheng County incident had also lasted for over a decade, but due to the Puppet Ballad’s characteristics, no one had noticed.
If it weren’t for Ji Ying, whose attention had been constantly diverted by the Puppet Ballad’s survival instinct, spawning “eggs” to distract her, no one would have known about its true form until it fully hatched… including Luo Ling, who had been under her sister’s care.
After the Grotesquery disaster in the Republican era Boundary ended, Lu Manqing, now an adult, returned to her father, Ji Shinian, with her mother, Lu Fangling.
But the Jiangcheng County Boundary, having experienced few Grotesquery incidents, had progressed to the 21st century.
Ji Shinian was almost a hundred years old, while Lu Fangling was only in her fifties. They hadn’t seen each other in decades.
Upon reuniting, they amicably separated, and Lu Manqing was entrusted to Ji Shinian’s care. Lu Fangling didn’t want her daughter to be involved in her dangerous work, and she couldn’t bear for Ji Shinian to live out his days without ever truly knowing his daughter.
Unfortunately, Lu Manqing’s strength was weak, and after forcibly traversing the Boundary, she fell into a long slumber due to cognitive dissonance.
For ten years after returning to Jiangcheng County, Lu Manqing had remained in Ward One on the seventh floor of Qingshan Hospital, only recently recovering and awakening.
Cen Xiangyun’s condition hadn’t been as severe, partly because of her family’s influence within the Company and their prior preparations, and partly because of their wealth, allowing her to use expensive alchemical potions to mitigate the cognitive dissonance.
In short, in their fight against cognitive dissonance, Cen Xiangyun had paid with money, Lu Manqing with time, and Elsa with her life.
And Luo Ling…
…was just lucky.
“Naturally able to perceive the Realm of Nothingness, and even walk within it, no wonder everyone wants her…”
Cen Xiangyun muttered, glaring enviously at Luo Ling.
She was still lamenting her dwindling year-end bonus.
“Someone’s jealous, Miss Cen,” Lu Manqing chuckled from the upper bunk. “Did you drink too much vinegar on the way here?”
“I’m not!”
Cen Xiangyun’s face flushed, feeling the heat rising.
She thought it was from anger, but the gossip-loving Lu Manqing didn’t think so.
Seeing Cen Xiangyun’s flustered reaction, Lu Manqing’s eyes twinkled mischievously.
“I think it’s not that you want Miss Luo Ling in your arms, but that you want to be in her arms! Trying to steal little Elsa’s spot!”
Why was she involved in their argument?
Luo Ling’s brow twitched, feeling the small body in her arms snuggle closer.
Elsa! You’re definitely awake, aren’t you?!
“Enough about that, there are some things I need to explain,” Cen Xiangyun said, trying to regain her composure. “There are a few things you need to be aware of in Victoria.
“First, don’t use anything that doesn’t belong to this era, including electronic devices like phones. And Lu Manqing, you have to change your clothes!”
“Huh?” Lu Manqing was taken aback. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”
She loved her outfit and had been wearing it ever since returning to Jiangcheng County.
No particular reason, she just liked it.
“Heh, just change,” Cen Xiangyun sneered. “No excuses.”
“This is revenge!”
“Heh, it’s not.”
“Heh.”
They glared at each other.
“So, why?”
Luo Ling couldn’t help but ask. These two seemed so unreliable; it felt like the Company should have just given her the information and let her be the guide.
“It’s mainly to prevent unnecessary information leakage, which can cause cognitive dissonance, just like how we couldn’t reveal anything about Victoria in Jiangcheng County,” Cen Xiangyun patiently explained to Luo Ling.
“Second, you can reveal your Awakened identity to ordinary people, but only using Victorian terms, like ‘paranormal detective,’ ‘alchemist,’ ‘spiritualist,’ and so on. These are Awakened Ones that exist within their understanding. You can figure out the specifics yourselves.”
In other words, they were replacing Awakened Ones and Grotesqueries with more acceptable, mysterious concepts to prevent cognitive dissonance.
This was a necessary measure in Victoria, where Grotesquery incidents were frequent. Even so, there were still many mentally ill people in Victoria.
“Lastly, and most importantly,” Cen Xiangyun’s expression turned serious. “Never enter an incubation barrier alone without reporting it, even a Low-Sequence one. It’s strictly forbidden.
“In Victoria, Grotesquery incubation barriers are common, so common that… you might even pass by a few ruins just by visiting your neighbor.”
This was, of course, for safety reasons. Every rule was written in blood, and even though Luo Ling wasn’t too worried, she still nodded.
She wasn’t afraid of ordinary incubation barriers, but if she encountered one of a similar level, or even a Taboo’s…
Even she would be in danger.
She couldn’t afford to be arrogant, like Artist and Scientist, who had died because of their pride.
“But it’s not that dangerous. Victoria, as the Company’s golden age, has its advantages,” Cen Xiangyun’s tone lightened, a hint of longing in her eyes.
“Because of the frequent Grotesquery incidents, there are many resources, and because of the time difference, there are many things we’ve never seen before. And most importantly, my favorite operas were at their peak in that era! Heh, I’ll definitely be a big star there too!”
“…After joining the Company, do we still have to find our own jobs?” Luo Ling asked, her eye twitching.
“Theoretically, yes. After all, the Company’s existence can’t be revealed publicly. You’ll need a public identity, because many Company commissions require interacting with ordinary people,” Cen Xiangyun said. “Of course, if you’re content being unemployed… it’s not a big problem, but an unemployed young woman your age, in Victoria, is usually…”
Cen Xiangyun didn’t continue, but Luo Ling could guess what she meant and shuddered.
She wouldn’t choose that kind of identity.
“Speaking of which, I also need an identity. Can the Company help me with that?” Lu Manqing asked, leaning down from the upper bunk.
“No, figure it out yourself!” Cen Xiangyun glared at her.
“Revenge! This is revenge!”
“Heh.”
“Can I be a student?” Luo Ling asked after a moment of thought. “I’m still a high school senior, and I was supposed to take the college entrance exam next year…”
But after all this, she didn’t need to take the exam anymore.
Three years of preparation, wasted.
“Of course, but only middle-class families can afford school. The Company can provide financial support, but… you don’t have a family, do you?” Cen Xiangyun suddenly realized what she had said and quickly covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, Miss Luo Ling…”
She had almost forgotten that Sister Su Wan, who had raised Luo Ling, had died in the previous battle.
“It’s okay, I was raised in an orphanage.”
Luo Ling had come to terms with this and waved her hand dismissively.
“Ah, in that case,” Lu Manqing suddenly clapped her hands. “I have an idea, Miss Luo Ling.”
“Hmm? Tell me.”
Luo Ling looked up.
“Look, you need a family, and I need an identity, so how about this,” Lu Manqing said excitedly. “I’ll be your mother! And Elsa can join us too!”
“That way, I can pretend to be a wealthy housewife, divorced and left with two kids after my husband cheated and was kicked out!”
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