Chapter 307: Beauty

A low hum—!

An invisible magnetic field instantly expanded from outside the city, sweeping through Aurora City like a hurricane!

Chen Ling felt a searing heat sweep across his face, followed by an even more severe cold… The aurora covering the city completely vanished, and the cold wind from the Forbidden Sea swept entirely into Aurora City.

"...It's snowing?" Wen Shilin murmured.

Chen Ling looked up and saw that the sky, which should have been flowing with aurora, was now obscured by snowflakes, slowly drifting down in the cold wind. Unlike the sharply defined snowflakes of everyday life, the surfaces of these snowflakes resembled unpredictable particle clusters, their forms changing every second.

Even stranger, these snowflakes... were black.

Chen Ling raised his hand, caught a black snowflake, and felt a familiar aura from it.

At that moment, Chen Ling felt as if he was back in the Wisteria Cafe, frost covering the floor-to-ceiling windows beside him, and opposite him, Aurora Sovereign calmly raised a steaming cup of coffee and smiled faintly at him.

"...It's Aurora Sovereign," Chen Ling said, looking up at the sky. "Aurora Sovereign's soul has transformed into heavy snow, covering Aurora City."

As these snowflakes fluttered down from the sky, faint wisps of aurora began to rise from the ground in the deathly cold city, slowly and gracefully ascending into the sky, moving in the opposite direction of the falling snow.

Black snow was falling, and the aurora was rising;

Chen Ling stared blankly at the scene, knowing that what was falling was Aurora Sovereign's soul, and what was rising... was the salvation of Aurora City's three million residents.

A low rumble—!!

A roar came from behind him. Chen Ling turned to see the dimensional train, stopped at the platform, whistling. Steam slowly rose from its dark chimney, and a layer of ice had already formed on the train's exterior.

With the disappearance of the aurora, the cold tide from the Forbidden Sea had completely surged into the city. The temperature had plummeted again, and if the dimensional train didn't leave soon, it might never be able to.

"Mr. Wen, you..." Chen Ling turned, about to say something to Wen Shilin, when he suddenly froze.

He saw that Wen Shilin's eyelashes were covered in ice crystals, his face was as pale as paper, and only faint wisps of steam still drifted from his nostrils. Even so, his eyes remained fixated on the black snow and the aurora, as if he hadn't heard the train whistling behind him.

Chen Ling's brows furrowed. He pushed Wen Shilin, and fine ice shards fell from the latter's clothes.

"Mr. Wen, you should go," Chen Ling said solemnly.

Wen Shilin was, after all, an ordinary person. Unlike Chen Ling, who had the Blood Robe for protection, he couldn't survive long in such rapidly dropping temperatures. If he didn't get on the train soon, he would freeze to death.

Only then did Wen Shilin come back to his senses. He shakily stood up from the steps, his gaze at the train complex.

"You should go too," Wen Shilin said, his peripheral vision falling on the street.

Chen Ling paused, then looked back. At the end of the street, where black snow silently fell, three figures carrying black umbrellas were slowly walking towards them. They wore solemn black suits and black leather shoes, their coattails fluttering in the strong wind. On their chests, black playing cards each revealed a corner of a white character.

This was...

Perhaps the battle between Tan Xin and Aurora Sovereign had been too shocking, causing everyone to almost forget the existence of the Twilight Society in the city. They had remained quietly dormant in the city, watching everything unfold, only now making a move.

But Chen Ling didn't understand what the Twilight Society intended by appearing at this moment.

The three arrived before the station steps. Chu Muyun gently raised the brim of his black umbrella, his face as cold as an iceberg under the falling snow.

"Heart 6," he said faintly. "It's time to go."

Hearing the words "Heart 6," Wen Shilin seemed to recall something, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. He turned to look at Chen Ling, his expression incredibly complex...

Chen Ling knew his time for independent action was over. He met Wen Shilin's gaze and smiled faintly,

"It was a pleasure working with you, Mr. Wen."

"...Me too."

Wen Shilin waved the notebook in his hand. In its corner, a line of scrawled characters had been written, looking as if penned in freezing conditions, every stroke trembling—

"Investigative Reporter: Wen Shilin, Lin Yan"

"The Aurora Daily will forever remember your name... You are an excellent reporter, Lin Yan."

Chen Ling's lips curled into a slight smile as he saw the words. He glanced at the train on the platform, "Perhaps in another dimension in the future, we'll have a chance to meet again. When that happens, I hope we can reintroduce ourselves... by my true name."

"Mhm."

Chen Ling waved at Wen Shilin and walked directly towards the three figures at the foot of the steps. His figure, alongside the three in black, gradually disappeared at the end of the snow-laden road.

Wen Shilin stood alone on the platform, not turning to board the train. Instead, he bent down, fumbled for a moment on Yan Shang's corpse, and took out a second train ticket, clutching it in his hand.

He descended the steps and walked directly towards the alleyway opposite.

In the alleyway where black snow drifted, a woman was huddled with her child in front of a long-extinguished fire. She had been secretly watching Wen Shilin, and seeing him walk directly towards her, she immediately shrank back and lowered her head, not daring to meet his gaze.

"I remember you," Wen Shilin said calmly. "You're a family member of an organ trafficking victim... I interviewed you a few days ago. Do you remember me?"

"Yes... I remember..." The woman's voice was extremely hoarse, almost inaudible in the cold wind.

Wen Shilin's gaze fell on the child in her arms. A seven- or eight-year-old was bundled up tightly, only a small face exposed, but even that face was unnaturally flushed, and their breathing was growing weaker.

"...He's dying," Wen Shilin said again.

The woman's body trembled violently. She clutched her child even tighter, as if trying to merge him into her own body... But even so, her own body was gradually losing sensation.

Just then, two train tickets were extended to her.

"Take him," Wen Shilin said. "Leave here, take him somewhere warm... And also, please deliver this to the officials of the next dimension."

The woman stared blankly at the train tickets in Wen Shilin's hand, seemingly still processing, but as the train whistle echoed again from the station, she stumbled to her feet... She looked at Wen Shilin with disbelief.

"Benefactor, aren't you leaving?"

"No, I'm not... I'll stay here and watch this city until its last moment."

The woman was about to say more, but Wen Shilin pressed the notebook and tickets into her arms. "Hurry, the train is about to leave..."

Seeing this, the woman trembled with emotion. Holding her child, she immediately knelt down, bowing her head three times to Wen Shilin in profound gratitude, then, with countless thanks, hurried towards the station.

As the train's whistle hummed, its steel wheels slowly crushed the frost on the tracks. Amidst the low, rumbling clatter like thunder, it spewed white steam and departed for beyond the dimension...

Wen Shilin silently watched the scene, his expression finally relaxing as he gave a helpless smile.

He was neither Tan Xin nor Aurora Sovereign; he was just an ordinary person... This was all he could do for the Aurora Dimension and for the continuation of humanity.

Black snow fell silently from the sky, and Wen Shilin, step by step, returned to the station steps.

He sat down on the highest step. From there, he could see most of Aurora City... He leaned slowly against the ice-frozen railing, like a child about to fall asleep, gazing blankly at the city before him.

He saw the aurora silently flowing, returning to the sky. The city, once bustling and vibrant for hundreds of years, was now as quiet as if asleep.

Click—

Wen Shilin pressed the shutter one last time, eternally capturing the scene.

The hand holding his camera dropped limply. Amidst the quiet and serenity, his body gradually froze into ice.

"How beautiful..."