Chapter 1226: The Prison of the Heart

“What will the world look like when God is gone?” Roland asked. “What will you gain from this? Can you even leave the Realm of Mind — become a physical thing?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Lan said, smiling. “But anything is better than being imprisoned here forever. At least there’s hope.”

He studied her face a long moment. Nothing flickered there — no anxiety, no second thoughts. She might have been deciding what to order for lunch.

He was not going to get more out of her, not without bringing Nightingale into the Dream World. Their conversation wound on without gaining ground. Every time Roland asked about God, Lan sealed her mouth and repeated that the Battle of Divine Will was beyond her help.

She told him she could do nothing more than live here as a martialist and carry messages. The Realm of Mind ran on rules, she said — rules even God could not simply rewrite. It was precisely those restrictions that had finally allowed her to seek out the one person who might end the Battle of Divine Will.

But she would not be fully free until the war stopped. Every rule still applied to her. Her work could be undone at any moment.

When Roland walked her to the door, he asked one last question.

“By the way — you said you didn’t expect me to open a coffeeshop here. Is there another Rose Café somewhere in this city?”

“Yes,” Lan said, the smile still faint. “In the Prism City.”

“But I asked Garcia—”

“The shop is in the central district. Only the Martialist Association’s executives can reach it. I already knew the Association would license you — you would have been able to get there on your hunting license alone.” She paused. “But you’ve never cared about the Association. You haven’t set foot in the Prism City since the day you were licensed.” Another pause, shorter. “One more thing: the central hub where they store the fallen cores sits at the bottom level of that building. Ordinarily only the Defenders and their superiors can access it.”

Now the missing café made sense. Exclusive to executives; invisible to everyone else.

“So where do we meet next time — if there is a next time? There are two Rose Cafés now.”

“This one,” Lan said, glancing up at the apartment tower above them. “Garcia lives here, yes? It’s not a bad reason to visit. I think I would probably…” She let the sentence trail off. “Like it here quite a lot.”

Probably? Roland thought, eyebrows lifting. She doesn’t know her own preferences? He kept it to himself.

They parted. He watched Lan diminish down the alley until she was gone.

He leaned in the coffeeshop doorway and turned the conversation over, examining it the way a man turns a stone to check what lives underneath. The Dream World and the real world both felt less foreign now — magic power, Divine Will, the Realm of Mind, the Land of Dawn, the Fathomless Abyss. Words that had floated like smoke were acquiring edges.

Then a tremor moved through him. Faint but unmistakable.

He looked up.

A warped, transparent ripple swept across the alley and rolled outward across the whole district, like a stone dropped in still water. The residents around him went on laughing, went on talking. Not one of them blinked.

He almost convinced himself he had imagined it.

But he knew this sensation. It was the same quiver he felt when he collected cores from magic creatures — a fluctuation of power, physical and intimate. He pressed his fists closed. The sensation was almost pleasant. What unsettled him was everything surrounding it.

Did something strike the Dream World?

Lan was gone, and he still didn’t have an Association-issued phone from the Prism City. He had no way to reach her.

He locked the coffeeshop and went upstairs.

He had meant to disconnect from the Dream World and return to reality. But when he pushed open the door to Room 0825, Zero’s sneakers sat at the threshold.

She should have been at school. He had been with Lan for over an hour.

He found the little girl on the floor. Two broken glasses lay a short distance from her hand.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He crossed the room and crouched, pressing two fingers to her wrist. The pulse was there. Her face was flushed, eyes shut, brows drawn together as though something inside her was being squeezed. He pressed his palm to her forehead.

Burning.

From where she had fallen, she had probably lost her balance reaching across the coffee table.

“She was fine this morning.”

He exhaled. At least there were no Fallen Evils. When he had first seen her on the floor, his gut had gone straight to God.

He lifted her in his arms, took the stairs at speed, and climbed into the minivan.

Zero surfaced. Her eyes opened to a thin crack. “I broke… the glasses on the table.”

“I saw.”

“S-sorry. I’ll pay for them. I don’t… want to go back to the countryside.”

She’s delirious.

Roland set her in the passenger seat and buckled the belt. “Stop talking,” he said.

She stretched out her hand just as he reached for the ignition.

“Don’t go.”

He had never heard her voice stripped like that — no defiance in it, no edge. He thought of what she had written in her diary. The fever was burning away the armor she wore during waking hours, leaving something younger and more breakable underneath. He did not know what her family had done to her. He let out a slow breath.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You still owe me rent. I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

She closed her eyes. Her hand did not loosen.

It was afternoon by the time Zero was admitted. The cause of the fever was unclear, but the color had returned to her face.

The doctor came late in the evening.

“Are you really a martialist?”

“Yes,” Roland said. “What’s the matter?”

“This isn’t funny,” the doctor grunted. “The girl isn’t sick at all. She’s awakened. Some people do feel unwell when it happens — it’s uncommon, but it exists. Didn’t the Association tell you about that?”

“What?”

“Awakened.” The doctor said it the way people say things they have already said too many times. “What a mess. If there weren’t a martialist registered to this hospital I would have put her through a full panel for rare diseases.” He flapped his hand. “You can go. Take her home.”

Roland carried Zero back through the dark.

He stared down at the white-haired girl curled against his chest and thought: she had been a Pure Witch. Of course she was destined for magic power. It was in the fabric of her. But she was living in the Dream World now. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

The hallway outside Room 0825 was golden, the wall lamps throwing soft rings of light across the carpet. A few moths orbited the nearest bulb. When Roland rounded the corner he stopped.

Garcia sat at his doorstep, spine against the door, knees drawn up.

What is today? he thought. Everyone is coming to find me. He had told Nightingale he would only be gone a short while. By now it was probably dinner in the other world.

He crouched down. “Hey. Did you lock yourself out? Want to stay over?”

Garcia did not answer. She did not sneer. She did not move at all.

The words died on his tongue when he saw her face.

Wet with tears.

“A large group of Fallen Evils attacked the Prism City.” Her voice came out scraped hollow. “Someone who escaped told me that my master… my master stayed back to protect the others. The Fallen Evils tore her apart.”

Chapter 1226 - The Prison of the

Heart Translator: Transn Editor: Transn “What will the world look like when God is gone,” Roland asked tentatively. “What will you gain from this? Are you able to leave the Realm of Mind and become a physical entity?” “To be honest, I don’t know,” Lan said with a smile. “But anyhow, it’s better than being imprisoned here forever. At least, there are hopes.” Roland gazed at her for a while. There was not the faintest hint of uneasiness on Lan’s countenance. She acted as if just making a very simple decision. It appeared that he could not get anything more out of her, unless he brought Nightingale into the Dream World. Their subsequent conversation did not go anywhere either. Every time Roland asked about God, Lan kept her mouth clamp shut and reiterated that she could not help him with the Battle of Divine Will. Lan told Roland that she could do nothing more than living here as a martialist and delivering him messages. According to Lan, there were various rules that governed the Realm of Mind. Even God might not be able to change those rules at His will. Because of such restrictions, Lan had finally found a chance to look for the person who could terminate the Battle of Divine Will. Nevertheless, she would not be able to gain total freedom until the war was stopped. All the rules and restrictions still applied to her, and her work could be subotaged anytime. When Roland walked Lan out, he asked one last question. “By the way, you said you didn’t expect me to open a coffeeshop here. Is there another Rose Café somewhere in this city?” “Yes,” Lan said while smiling faintly. “It’s in the Prism City.” “But I’ve asked Garcia…” “The coffeeshop is in the central part of the city. It’s only accessible to the executives of the Martialist Association. At that time, I already knew that the Association would license you, so you would be able to get there via your hunting license. However, you don’t have the slightest interest in the Association, which really surprised me. You’ve never been to the Prism City since you got your license.” Lan paused for a second before she resumed, “Also, for your information, the central hub where we store the cores of the Fallen Evils is located at the bottom level of the city. Normally, only the Defenders and their seniors have access to it.” Now, Roland finally understood why he could not find the Rose Café. It was actually a coffeeshop exclusive to the executives of the Association. “So where shall we meet again next time? I mean if we plan to meet again, which coffeeshop? Now there are two Rose Cafés.” “This one would be better,” Lan said as she looked up at the towering apartment building. “Garcia should be living here, right? It’s not a bad idea to visit her every now and then. I would probably… like it here a lot.” “Probably? She doesn’t know her likings?” Roland thought to himself, his brows raised, but he remained silent. Then they parted, and Roland saw Lan gradually disappear from his sight. Roland leaned against the shop door while revisiting their conversation. Both the Dream World and the real world seemed to be more understandable now. Words like magic power, Divine Will, the Realm of Mind, the Land of Dawn, and the Fathomless Abyss all became more concrete and made more sense to him. While Roland was lost in thought, suddenly, he felt a queer quaver steal through him! Roland looked up abruptly and saw a distorted, transparent wave sweep over the entire alley and soon ripple across the whole area. What had happened? He was surprised that the residents in this community seemed to be unconscious of the change, for they were still talking and laughing as if nothing had happened. Roland almost thought that he was hallucinating. But he knew, based on his past experience, that this was a change only visible to him. It was a fluctuation of power that he sensed when he collected the cores of the magic creatures. Roland clenched his fists. It was quite a pleasant sensation, but he somehow felt a little unsettled this time. Did something impact the Dream World? Lan was gone, and he had not obtained a phone exclusive to Association members from the Prism City. Otherwise, he could have asked her about it. Roland thus closed the coffeeshop and returned to the apartment. He had planned to disconnect the dream and go back to reality. However, when he entered Room 0825, he saw Zero’s sneakers at the doorstep. Roland wondered why Zero had not gone to school yet. He had been with Lan in the coffeeshop for over an hour. To his dismay, he found the little girl lie on the floor. There were two broken glasses not far away. “You gotta be kidding me…” Roland strode over to the little girl and clasped her wrist. He felt the pulse. Then he noticed that Zero looked feverish, her eyes shut and her brows contracted, as though she was suffering a great pain. Roland’s hand reached onto Zero’s forehead. It was burning. Did she have a fever? From where she fell, Roland judged that Zero probably had lost her balance when she was trying to clean the coffee table. “Damn it. She was alright this morning.” But Roland was relieved that there was no Fallen Evils involved. The moment he had seen Zero fall on the floor, he had thought that God had come to seek revenge. Roland thus held Zero in his arms, sped down a flight of stairs, and climbed into the mini van. At this moment, Zero gained her consciousness. She opened her eyes and muttered, “I… broke the glasses… on the table.” “I saw it.” “S-sorry, I’ll… pay you. I don’t… want to go back to the countryside.” “Is she so sick that she’s out of her mind?” Roland put Zero in the passenger seat and fastened the seatbelt. “Stop talking,” he said. Then Zero suddenly stretched out her hand and spoke again when Roland was about to turn on the engine, “Don’t go…” Roland had never seen Zero, who always spoke to him in a defiant and almost trenchant manner, look so fragile and helpless. He somehow thought of what she had written in her diary. Perhaps, the fever brought about the most tender part of her personality. Roland did not know how her families used to treat her. At these thoughts, Roland heaved a sigh and said, “Don’t worry, you still owe me rents. I won’t let you go.” After receiving the confirmation, Zero closed her eyes, but she did not relinquish her grip. It was already afternoon when Zero was hospitalized. Although the cause of the fever remained unknown, Zero looked a little better. The doctor did not come until late evening. “Are you really a martialist? “Yes, what’s the matter?” Roland asked. “This isn’t funny,” the doctor grunted. “The girl isn’t sick at all. She’s simply awakened. Some people will indeed feel not very well when they’re awakened, although it’s not very common. Didn’t the Martialist Association tell you about that?” “What?” “Awakened! What a mess. If there weren’t a martialist in the hospital, I would have thought it’s some rare disease,” the doctor said dismissively. “You can go now. Take her home.” … So Roland brought Zero back to the apartment building. He let out a deep sigh as he stared at the white-haired girl curling up in his arms. As a former Pure Witch, it appeared that she was destined to have magic power. Fortunately, Zero was now living in the Dream World, so she would probably not make the same mistake as she had done in her previous life. Darkness had now pressed in. The long corridor outside was bathing in a soft, warm glow. A few bugs flew toward the light source. When Roland approached Room 0825, he found, surprisingly, a familiar figure. It was Garcia. She was sitting at the doorstep while leaning against the door. “What’s going on today?” Roland wondered. “Everyone seems to come look for me.” He had told Nightingale that he would only have a short nap. Now it was probably time for dinner in the other world. “Hey,” Roland greeted Garcia as he crouched down. “What brought you here? Did you lose your key and want to stay over?” However, Garcia neither responded nor sneered as she usually did, and Roland realized that something was wrong. All the words rested on the tip of his tongue when he saw Garcia’s face. It was glazed with tears. “A large number of Fallen Evils attacked the Prism City. Someone who escaped told me that my master… my master stayed behind to protect others and was killed by the Fallen Evils…”