Chapter 300: Listening to Suffering

Chen Ling fell silent.

The image of the white-robed, white-haired figure reappeared in his mind. Although he had spent less than half an hour with the Aurora King, the impression left on him was profound. In such a strange and desperate era, being able to meet someone with whom he could communicate on the same frequency was truly rare and valuable.

"However, for Tan Xin to use the Aurora King's soul as a power source, I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Wen Shilin said again. "Tan Xin is only an eighth-tier, while the Aurora King is a ninth-tier... he has almost no chance of winning."

But after thinking for a moment, he added, "It's hard to say. The Aurora King's lifespan is at its end, so his strength is certainly not what it used to be..."

Chen Ling recalled the Aurora King's figure, frowning and about to say something, when a shrill alarm suddenly echoed over Aurora City.

Wailing—!!Wailing—!!!Wailing—!!!!

The sound interrupted Chen Ling's thoughts, echoing in every corner of the city. Simultaneously, the black-clad enforcers, scattered throughout, seemed to have received a message and immediately began searching the city.

"It seems he has already begun his move..."

West City, the small building.

"Hmm, hmm... I'm listening."

"So that's how it is. No wonder you're all together... You must have a very good relationship, right?"

"District Three, you say? My apologies, I just woke up... Can you tell me what kind of place District Three is?"

"Are there still places in the Aurora Realm where life is so difficult? It must have been very hard for you to reach Aurora City, wasn't it?"

Snow and wind howled outside the snow-white window. Frozen corpses lay silently throughout the room, their pale faces nestled together. By the doorway, a white-robed, white-haired figure sat on a moved chair, listening intently.

The Aurora King gently held Ling'er's corpse, nodding occasionally, his gaze incredibly complex.

"Ah, Chen Ling... I know him too. Although he seems unapproachable, he's actually a good person... He's not dead, you know? He just went to get revenge for you."

"And that child... named... Zhao Yi, right? Don't worry, he's alive too. I rescued him at the base entrance."

"No, don't thank me... I actually did nothing. In fact, I should be the one to apologize... If I could have maintained the aurora, none of this would have happened."

"Talk to souls? I don't think I'm that remarkable."

With one hand, the Aurora King stroked Ling'er's frozen hair and slowly closed his eyes.

"I'm actually not very good at talking to people. I used to deal with instruments in the lab... After I gained this ability, I haven't had a single good night's sleep."

"I can hear the tormented souls who died in the war wailing. I can hear them calling out their loved ones' names in despair. I can hear them weeping as they recount the good deeds they did in their lives, then questioning why heaven made them endure such suffering... Their pain, their indignation, their pleas, their resentment, constantly echo in my ears..."

"So, I always hid myself, trying to escape these sounds." The Aurora King smiled helplessly, as if recalling something. "But even if I hid, the suffering was still there; I just covered my ears and couldn't hear it..."

"But this time, I don't want to hide anymore."

The Aurora King slowly raised his head, his gaze passing through the frosted glass to the dead, cold city outside.

"This city rose because of me, and it will perish because of me. At least... I want to hear its voice."

Wailing—The cold wind howled outside the window, emitting a low hum, like weeping and lamenting.

"In any case, it was a pleasure meeting all of you." The Aurora King turned to look inside the room. "Thank you for not cursing me, not attacking me, but instead quietly speaking with me for a while..."

"Everyone, please ascend."

As the Aurora King's words fell, the aurora swirling in his pupils grew brighter. A formless magnetic field wind swept up from within the room, and faint, shifting glimmers began to spread through the air...

That was the aurora, drifting out from the corpses filling the room.

These auroras escaped the confines of the corpses, rising through the roof into the sky under the Aurora King's gaze. Like ethereal veils, they silently vanished into the heavens.

The last wisp of glimmer floated out from Ling'er's body, gently swaying as if waving goodbye to the Aurora King.

"Goodbye, little sister."

The Aurora King reached out and touched the head of Ling'er's corpse.

As the room once again fell into cold, dead silence, the white-robed, white-haired figure slowly turned and walked alone toward the street.

"So cold... so cold! Can anyone save me?"

"Mommy... why isn't Mommy back yet? I'm so cold..."

"Mommy went to buy coal; she should be back soon. Let's wait a bit longer."

"Why, why!! How did this little bit of coal burn out so quickly? I... I don't want to die yet!"

"Oh my God! What sin have I committed? Why are you freezing our whole family to death... ah?!"

"A living person! There's still a living person on the street!! Why wasn't he frozen to death?! Die, die, die..."

These voices, one after another, drilled into the Aurora King's mind. His gaze swept around, seeing a pair of siblings frozen to death in their home, already lifeless; seeing a mother collapsed outside her door, clutching an empty coal basin; seeing a family of five frozen like statues around an extinguished stove; seeing a beggar, long dead by the roadside, glaring fiercely at everything before him...

The Aurora King walked through the ice and snow, his white greatcoat fluttering in the biting wind. His divine eyes, swirling with aurora, were full of compassion and sorrow...

He was feeling the suffering of this city.

He glanced at the street corner, his expression slightly moved. He bent down and picked up a cold, still-swaddled infant's corpse from a discarded corner.

"Hush... hush... don't cry anymore," the Aurora King murmured softly, stroking the silent, lifeless infant's cheek.

At this moment, the survivors in Aurora City were all struggling to cling to life in their homes, relying on coal. There were no pedestrians to be seen on the streets. The white-robed figure was swallowed by the howling wind and snow, and the tears that slid down his cheeks instantly froze into ice.

As he walked on, faint wisps of aurora drifted out from the cold corpses. Their existence was so ethereal that almost no mortal eyes could perceive them.

The Aurora King walked for a long time, holding the swaddled infant, until a black figure carrying a black box emerged from the distance in the wind and snow.

The Aurora King slowly stopped.