[Night, Longevity County Bank]
The streets of Longevity County were unusually quiet now, with only the wind rustling dry leaves across the ground, making a soft 'shhh' sound.
In the corner of the bank lobby, a layer of water-like ripples of light suddenly appeared.
As the light twisted and converged, two slender figures finally materialized.
These two were none other than Jing Liuli and Caroline.
"How was it, Caroline? My 'Daydream: Illusory Reality' is amazing, right?"
As soon as they appeared, Jing Liuli proudly boasted.
She raised and shook her hand; a faint residual dream energy, like a layer of scattered fluorescence, clung to her fingertips.
"Even a Calamity-level powerhouse wouldn't detect our energy fluctuations while 'invisible' without careful sensing."
It was no wonder she was so proud.
Relying on 'Daydream: Illusory Reality,' Jing Liuli had allowed both her and Caroline to briefly become 'invisible,' making it difficult for others to perceive that they had remained in the bank lobby.
Facing Jing Liuli's smug look, Caroline reluctantly curved her lips, but quickly sobered her expression.
Immediately after, her tactical tablet lit up in her palm, and the internal structure blueprint of the bank appeared on the screen.
"Let's not talk about that for now. Tendo said the night is the key to breaking the loop. We need to quickly find the 'passage' he mentioned."
Based on the clues she had gathered and the information Tendo left behind, Caroline had already inferred the general situation of Longevity County.
Longevity County during the day was an independent, stagnant spacetime.
Longevity County at night was a flowing, continuously advancing spacetime.
At the same time, many 'monsters' that wouldn't move freely during the day had no such restrictions at night.
It was as if the daytime Longevity County was the world of the living, and the nighttime Longevity County was the world of the dead, maintaining a subtle balance between the two.
And what they were looking for now was the crucial 'key' that could break this balance.
As for where this key was... Caroline already had the answer in her mind.
It was inside this county bank, the place where 'equivalent exchange' took place.
Caroline led Jing Liuli to the staff counter.
A rusty old copper lock hung on the iron door behind the counter, its core nearly seized with rust.
Jing Liuli was about to conjure her dream threads to try her luck when Caroline raised her hand, signaling her to step back.
Immediately after, Caroline's right hand suddenly flashed with a silver-white metallic luster. The skin over her five finger joints split open, revealing a precise smart-machine structure inside.
Then, one of her fingers transformed into a lock-picking tool with tiny gears, its tip flashing with a pale blue energy.
Click!
It didn't take any effort. With a faint sound, the copper lock's internal gears were precisely manipulated, and the bolt sprang open.
"Wow, Caroline, your gear has been upgraded again?"
Jing Liuli's eyes widened, clearly very curious about Caroline's versatile smart-machine transformations.
In response, Caroline said flatly, "It's nothing, just a new smart-machine module I acquired at the Heavenly Martial Training Base."
Caroline pushed open the iron door as she spoke.
The next second, the familiar chill, a mix of ink and metal, rushed towards them.
Behind the iron door was the staff lounge. Dim moonlight streamed through the blinds, casting striped shadows on the floor.
The abacus and ledgers on the desk remained as they were during the day, but the pages of the ledger were automatically flipping without wind, stopping exactly at the page recording the 'Rotten Vine Corpse Core Exchange.'
"Caroline, where do we go next?"
Jing Liuli lowered her voice, her expression becoming serious, the playfulness from earlier gone.
Because Tendo had only mentioned that the nighttime Longevity County was the key for them to escape the cyclical spacetime, but hadn't specified exactly how to escape.
Thus, Jing Liuli was still a bit confused.
Moreover, although they had only moved from the lobby to the staff area,
Jing Liuli's dream ability instantly sensed that something was amiss, as if something very dangerous was hidden in the back area, making her very uncomfortable.
Caroline did not immediately answer the question.
She walked to the floor in the corner of the lounge and tapped the ground beneath her feet with her finger.
The sound coming from the floor... was hollow.
With this information, she immediately brought up the underground structure diagram on the tablet, pointing to the area beneath her feet. "The bank's underground vault should be in this secret passage. We'll go there."
"Okay."
After a brief 'scan,' Caroline stepped on a loose floor tile.
Instantly, the smooth floor suddenly split open with a 'creak,' revealing the staircase leading underground.
The depth of the passage was pitch black, with only a faint golden light flickering at the very bottom.
"Caroline, are you sure we should really go down?"
Jing Liuli's voice trembled as she looked at the deep, dark passage.
However, this was not fear, but her dream ability starting to become agitated.
Because with the appearance of the secret passage, Jing Liuli instantly perceived many fragmented 'dream scenes.'
A spinning golden scale, flowing pale green life energy, and a face wearing a golden mask, whose eyes held no warmth.
Although these scenes were fragmented, they intensified the unease in her heart.
Noticing Jing Liuli's abnormality, Caroline immediately voiced her judgment to explain why they needed to venture into this unknown and bizarre place.
"Liuli, since the nighttime Longevity County is the convergence point for multiple spacetimes on the island, how do you think the bank staff from different spacetimes gather all the collected 'lifespan' and 'memories' in one place?"
Hearing this, a flash of insight crossed Jing Liuli's mind.
"Are you suggesting that this underground vault is one of the few places on Longevity Island that doesn't fall into an infinite loop?"
Caroline nodded, indicating that was exactly what she meant.
"In that case... let's go."
Although she was still wary of the strange dreams emanating from the underground, Jing Liuli ultimately decided to go down with Caroline.
However, a large part of this decision stemmed from her trust in Tendo.
After all, Tendo had directed them to this county bank, which meant everything was under his control.
When the sky falls, the tall person bears the weight. She was short; Tendo was the tall person.
Caroline walked to the entrance of the passage and turned on the floodlight on her tactical tablet.
The bright beam illuminated the damp staircase below, clearly revealing the situation inside to the two of them.
The walls of the passage were covered in moss, and the air was slightly sticky and damp, causing a shiver to run down one's spine.
The two followed the stairs down. When they reached the end, a massive iron door appeared before them, engraved with a symmetrical scale totem. Embedded in the crevices of the totem were countless tiny points of light, seemingly hinting at something.
"Is this the vault door?"
Looking at the unique vault door, the very curious Jing Liuli instinctively reached out to touch it.
But just as her hand extended, Caroline immediately pulled her back.
"Not yet."
Under Jing Liuli's puzzled gaze, Caroline took out a metal gear from her pocket, one of her spare smart-machine parts.
She raised her hand and tossed the gear towards the vault door, and then... an unexpected scene occurred.
The gear neither hit the door nor bounced back. Instead, about half a meter from the door, it passed through an invisible barrier, causing ripples like a pebble dropped into water, and then completely vanished before their eyes.
"What is this?!"
"It's a spacetime phantom."
Caroline calmly offered her analysis. Through quantum analysis of these phantoms, Caroline's tactical tablet quickly displayed some scenes of bank employees transporting 'equivalents' into the vault.
"Liuli, the vault is currently in a superposition state of multiple spacetimes. What we see is just one of the phantoms. Touching it rashly will draw us into a spacetime anomaly."
"Then when do we wait until?"
Caroline didn't answer immediately but looked down at the smart-machine watch on her wrist. After a moment, she gave her answer.
"Midnight, twelve o'clock, because that is the only time the spacetime nodes on the island fully converge."
"At that time, the phantom will dissipate, and the physical vault will truly manifest."
"And we have two hours until that critical point."
Before she could finish her sentence, a loud 'thud' came from above the staircase, sounding like someone had missed a step.
In the darkness, a familiar figure walked down the stairs, their pale blue eyes particularly noticeable in the gloom.
"Tendo!"
Seeing Tendo appear, Jing Liuli excitedly shouted, quickly running over.
"Where were you yesterday? Why are you only showing up now?"
Tendo smiled and ruffled her hair.
"Nothing, I went to look for something."
Jing Liuli asked curiously, "Did you find it?"
Tendo nodded, slowly spreading his palm.
The next second, a lifelike golden chrysanthemum suddenly bloomed in his palm. The petals layered over each other, emitting a warm golden light, with the stamens clearly visible.
This golden chrysanthemum seemed to possess life, instantly filling the dim passage with a faint fragrance and dispelling the bone-chilling cold.
"This is..."
Caroline's pupils slightly constricted. The quantum module in her brain suddenly emitted a 'beep' alarm, and her retina displayed the energy analysis of the golden chrysanthemum.
What this golden chrysanthemum contained was life energy that was completely opposite, yet mutually constraining, to the 'Rose' on Longevity Island.
If the Rose symbolized 'Death,' then this golden chrysanthemum symbolized 'Life and Balance.'
"This is the 'key' I found yesterday."
Tendo's voice was light, yet carried a reassuring strength.
"Caroline, you must be able to sense it, right? It has a symbiotic and opposing relationship with the 'Rose' on the island."
Caroline nodded.
"The Rose implies death, the Golden Chrysanthemum means new life, combined with the unwritten rule of 'equivalence' and 'balance' on this island, therefore..."
Without waiting for Caroline to finish, Tendo added with a smile.
"...therefore, this is the essence of Longevity Island: an art of transaction and being transacted."
Saying this, Tendo put away the golden chrysanthemum, placing it in his close-fitting pocket.
"Guess where I found this flower."
Caroline pondered for a moment and immediately gave the answer.
"The bank corresponds to exchange, so the Golden Chrysanthemum, symbolizing life... can only be found at the county hospital, right?"
As if he had already known Caroline would guess correctly, Tendo nodded with a smile.
Subsequently, the camera angle of the episode began to switch, and the scene instantly jumped.
When it reappeared, it was the scene from last night when Tendo had just left the inn.
[Flashback: Last Night, Longevity County Hospital]
Leaving the inn, Tendo chose not to walk down the bustling main street but turned into a small alley covered in vines.
The Longevity County Hospital at night was even more eerie than the bank. White paint peeled off the walls, revealing blackened bricks inside. The air was filled with a mixture of disinfectant and foul odor, making the stomach churn.
The moment he stepped into the hospital entrance, the surrounding light and shadows began to distort.
Then, the dilapidated waiting hall transformed in just a few seconds into an abandoned space overgrown with pale purple rose vines. The thorns on the vines glistened chillingly, like countless small knives waiting for prey.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by piercing roars, Rotten Vine Corpses in patient gowns surged out from both sides of the corridor. Their bodies were entangled by vines, and green spectral light flickered in their eye sockets.
However, these Rotten Vine Corpses were three times faster than during the day and significantly stronger.
Tendo merely swayed slightly, and an invisible Vector Field unfolded around him.
The attacking vines were instantly repelled by the Vector Field, striking the wall with a 'smack' and shattering into pieces.
Ignoring these 'small fries,' Tendo's Stare of the Eclipse shone with a pale blue light, penetrating the layers of vines, locking onto the newborn reception room deep within the hospital.
A faint trace of life energy was there, utterly different from the Rose's predatory energy.
In less than ten minutes, Tendo broke through the encirclement of Rotten Vine Corpses and reached the newborn reception room.
The room was covered in dust, except for the baby cradle in the center, which was clean. The cradle held no baby, only a blooming Golden Chrysanthemum, a single drop of crystal clear dew clinging to its petals.
And above the cradle, a broken golden scale was suspended.
One end of the scale was broken, leaving only the empty tray hanging on the other end. A small line of text was engraved on the tray: [The Zodiac - Libra].
Tendo looked at the fragmented scale, a cold light flashing in his pale blue eyes. He immediately reached out to pluck the Golden Chrysanthemum.
But just as his fingertip touched a petal, a large number of fleshy tentacles emerged from the surrounding walls, frantically attacking Tendo.
It felt as though the newborn reception room was not a cold structure at all, but an 'organ' of some flesh-and-blood creature.
However, none of the fleshy tentacles managed to get within five meters of Tendo before being instantly shredded by the Vector Field he maintained.
Tendo then carefully put away the Golden Chrysanthemum and turned to walk out.
Soon after he left, the fleshy vines inside the reception room began to grow rapidly.
At the same time, a massive phantom, resembling a 'scale' yet also a 'great tree,' appeared above the county hospital, gazing at Tendo as he walked out of the hospital, and after a few seconds... slowly vanished.
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