With Caelus
"..." The entire journey to find Qingyi's real consciousness is filled with nothing but an uncomfortable silence. No one in the group says anything; the previous scene is still fresh in their mind.
Except for Caelus and Mem, the Amphoreus saga had traumatized them so badly that it neutralized the possible trauma coming from that previous scene.
"..." Seth looks at the street with a haunted expression. He had seen stuff during his work as a PubSec officer, but he hadn't seen something as bad as the war his senior had once entered.
It was too much blood even for him.
"...are you sure this is the right path?" Zhu Yuan asks in concern. "We've been walking for hours, and yet there's no sign of Senior's consciousness."
"Usually, that means the person has gone deeper into their subconsciousness." Mem responses. "It's a common occurrence for anyone who falls into a coma."
"...to think the situation is this bad," Meilian mutters in sadness. "How did I not see the sign...?'
"Don't blame yourself, Miss Meilian," Zhu Yuan tries to reassure her. "If anything, I should be the one who receives the blame. I've been mentored by her for so long, and yet, I didn't know about this..."
"I think neither of you should blame each other," Caelus suggests. "This is not something you can just observe. From what I've gathered, her memories are completely reset, so she shouldn't have remembered any of this. But whoever did it might have messed up since some memories remain. And interacting with me might have accidentally restored her memories, so technically it is my fault..."
"...didn't you say the power of Path is obtained based on the path you walk? How does interacting with you affect her?" Zhu Yuan asks while narrowing her eyes.
"When you receive the power, as long as you walk in said path, you'll be supplied with the cosmic energy continuously," Caelus explains. "And that energy may have made contact with Qingyi..."
"...can you control the energy?" Zhu Yuan asks.
"Back then, before everything, I couldn't," Caelus admits.
"Then, let me use these words back at you: don't blame yourself," Zhu Yuan says as Caelus goes silent before chuckling. "What?"
"Nah, wasn't expecting that..." Caelus admits. "There's...another reason why I want to visit Qingyi today."
"What is it?" Zhu Yuan asks in confusion.
"...please stay open-minded; this is just a suspicion," Caelus says as Zhu Yuan nods. "I believe there's a spy in the PubSec."
"...tell me one good reason why I shouldn't hit you for accusing my fellow officer," Zhu Yuan says, narrowing her eyes as Seth prepares to join in.
"Qingyi said my baseball bat almost got stolen in PubSec," Caelus says, causing both officers to blink.
"...okay, I can see the reason for your suspicion," Zhu Yuan says before sighing. "But I think you can relax. I can assure you our fellow officers are law-abiding citizens at heart."
Caelus simply nods before keeping his accusation towards Bringer to himself. Telling Zhu Yuan and Seth would be a bad idea, so he would let them figure it out themself. He had warned them about the possible traitors, so he would leave them to handle the rest.
Of course, if Bringer decided to act, he would intervene. With the change in timeline, anyone's mortality rate becomes unpredictable.
As they walk, they are greeted with a broken wooden caravan lying in the middle of the street. Caelus glances at the trail on the ground, and surely enough, the trail shifts away from the road.
"Broken caravan, I wonder what happened here..." Seth mutters.
"Judging from the previous memories we got, the soldiers or assassin sent by the opposing faction is responsible for this ambush," Caelus says as he glances at the caravan. Arrows and spears are embedded in the caravan; slash marks are everywhere, and dried blood splatters around.
Zhu Yuan tries to get a closer look around the caravan, and she finds a dark green ribbon lying nearby. She gasps softly before approaching it and gently lifting it from the ground.
"This ribbon is Senior's," Zhu Yuan mutters before facing everyone.
"Strange, this doesn't feel like the memoria around the caravan. It was like it was a piece of her consciousness..." Mem trails off as everyone widens their eyes slightly.
"Senior's consciousness must've been here before!" Zhu Yuan exclaims. "She must be close!"
"Then, let us not waste any more time," Seth exclaims excitedly before the officers rush off. Caelus and Mem sweatdrop while Meilian collapses onto the ground, looking exhausted.
"Oh dear, curse these old bones," Meilian grumbles. "I don't think I could walk even further. Caelus, Mem, you can go without me."
"We can't," Caelus says before crouching down. "Qingyi needs her friend."
"Those officers are all she needs," Meilian says with a sigh.
"We can't be sure about that," Caelus insists. "Come on, let me carry you on my back."
"...why are you willing to go this far?" Meilian asks.
"Do I need a reason besides helping a friend of a person who helped me?" Caelus asks rhetorically. "Besides, this is the right thing to do."
"...your parents would be proud," Meilian says with a smile before letting Caelus carry her.
"Thank you." With that, they continue their trail.
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Meanwhile
"Ehn-nah!!!! (Waaah!!!!)" Slyboo panics as the ice grows even larger. A huge icicle spike protrudes from Qingyi's room through the door, slowly reaching the other side of the corridor.
The poor Bangboo should be escaping. He should be evacuating from the building find a safe place to hide. But he can't do any of that.
Because the ice has claimed his feet, and now he's stuck. Slyboo could only curse for not getting away quickly. He should've interpreted Caelus' command of 'stay'. Caelus meant he should stay in this realm, not stay in place to let the ice take over him. He knows Caelus isn't a person who has any malicious intent towards him. There's no way Caelus would ask him to stay so the ice could freeze him.
"EH-NAH!!!! (HELP!!!!)" With no other option, all Slyboo could do was scream for help. It might be more difficult than he expected, as everyone had evacuated from the building, so all he could hope his scream could reach the PubSec.
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Back with Caelus and Friends
Both Zhu Yuan and Seth continue to run, following the memory trails conjured by the Path of Remembrance. As they run, they finally notice a silhouette kneeling on the ground facing forward.
As they get closer, the silhouette becomes clearer, revealing to be none other than Qingyi. Both officers seems estatic upon seeing her, but freeze upon noticing something.
In front of her is a graveyard, filled with many unnamed tombstones. Qingyi is simply kneeling right in front of it, not saying any words.
"S-senior..." Zhu Yuan mutters in horror.
"...I don't know how you got here, Zhu Yuan," Qingyi says blankly, almost sounding like an actual robot. "But you should leave me be."
"I...I can't...." Zhu Yuan responds. "We're here to get you out."
"...this graveyard, filled with the people I was supposed to know back when I was active in the ancient civilization," Qingyi says, ignoring Zhu Yuan's responses before chuckling humorlessly. "It's funny; all of these memories should be gone. And yet, for whatever reason, everything resurfaces."
"..." Both officers go silent, unsure how to respond.
"...I don't know what happened to them, you know," Qingyi admits. "I was shut down before the ancient civilization completely disappeared. I never knew the fate of my companions, simply knowing that they were all deceased. Ever since the memories resurfaced, my algorithm tries to fill all the blanks by calculating probabilities and scenarios, resulting in those glitches..."
Qingyi takes a shaky breath as her body starts trembling. Both Seth and Zhu Yuan remain silent, unsure how to handle this. The entire situation is out of their depth.
"All those words about not understanding human emotions, and even being curious about learning it....but, turns out, I already knew about all of it in the past," Qingyi continues. "But...my mind can't handle it. The grief....the pain....how does an organic being endure all of this? How do they endure all of the loss?"
"Because they continue to find their reason to live," Qingyi's eyes widen before turning around to see Meilian getting carried by Caelus, who kneels slowly so Meilian can get off of him.
"Meilian...? You're here?" Qingyi asks in surprise.
"I'm here because Caelus and Mem believe your friends could help you, and it seems you desperately need it now," Meilian says with a sad smile before approaching her.
"..." Qingyi simply lowers her head as Meilian kneels in front of her.
"You ask how we can handle their grief and pain? We first acknowledge it," Meilian says as she gently holds the automaton's hands. "We admit the pain we felt. We accept it, then think back about our loved ones."
"Huh?" Qingyi now looks confused.
"We try to think of one question in our minds: 'What do our loved ones want us to do without them?'" Meilian says gently. "They want us to continue living, never giving up, and do something that we won't regret."
"..." Qingyi simply stays silent.
"Have I told you how my family and husband died during the fall of Old Capital?" Meilian asks as Qingyi nods, not noticing Caelus trying to hide his surprise. "I was in a similar state. All I could feel was the pain in my heart from all the grief. But I know my family didn't want to see me like that for all the time, so I continued to live, live my life to the fullest, which led me to build that apartment, so I could help everyone I can."
"...." Qingyi simply trembles as she listens to Meilian's words.
"Now, let's use your logical thinking you're very proud of. What do you think your companion wants you to do?" Meilian asks, caressing Qingyi's hands gently. "And what will you do for their sake?"
As she said that, echoes of Qingyi's companions from the past slowly appear in the form of memories, walking closer to Qingyi. The automaton turns and looks at them with wide eyes. One of the echoes, the suspected Zhu Yuan's ancestor, stands the closest to Qingyi and smiles at her.
"...live for their sake," Qingyi responds, earning a nod from Meilian. "...you all are truly more resilient than I give you credit for."
"One of humanity's greatest strengths," Meilian says proudly, making Qingyi smile. Zhu Yuan slowly walks closer to Qingyi, gripping her senior's green ribbon.
"Senior," Zhu Yuan calls, getting Qingyi's attention. "I...know we're not your old companion, and we will never be. But you still have people who care about you. So, please, live on."
With that, Zhu Yuan gives Qingyi her ribbon. She stares at the ribbon before gently picking it up and closing her eyes. After a few seconds, she uses her ribbon to tie her hair into a ponytail and looks at Zhu Yuan.
"Sorry for worrying you all, junior," Qingyi says before she pulls both Zhu Yuan and Meilian into a warm embrace.
To be continued