Endless Debt

Bologue spent a few minutes figuring out what happened from Aimou's account.

"I'm not sure what happened. You suddenly lost consciousness, then fell," Aimou recalled, "No matter how much I called out, you didn't respond."

"Then it was just falling, endless falling. According to your instruction, I didn't disengage the secret energy, detached from your body, and then we plunged into this darkness... You landed in a mess, torn apart beyond recognition."

Every time Aimou recalled that scene, she found it extremely terrifying, and being lodged in a dead body was not a good feeling.

"I was dead at the time, wasn't I?"

"Yes... I waited for a long time, but you didn't wake up. I dispelled the secret energy, detached from your body. I tried a lot of methods, but couldn't awaken you."

Aimou's voice gradually began to tremble; for her, it truly was a nightmare-like time.

"I thought your Undying Body was lying to me, that you had completely died."

During this time, Aimou often sat by Bologue's corpse, continually talking to him, hoping for some response.

Thinking back now, it felt like she was talking to a corpse, which sounded insane.

"No, just under certain special circumstances, my resurrection takes some time," Bologue comforted Aimou, "I just didn't expect it would take so long this time."

This was something Bologue couldn't understand, why his resurrection took so long this time. With Aimou's Ether reinforcement, he had ample Ether supplements and should have resurrected quickly.

His gaze turned to Aimou sitting beside him, wearing Bologue's clothes and looking as disheveled as a drifter; Bologue's appearance wasn't much better than Aimou because Aimou had taken his coat, he looked like a looted vagabond.

It seemed that their outfits were rather matching.

Bologue rubbed his head hard to clear his mind a bit, then pulled out the only folding knife left from his waist and walked towards Aimou.

"Stand up."

Aimou obediently stood up, then Bologue said, "Hold your hands out."

The folding knife swirled back and forth, Bologue cut out some cloth to amend his coat, making it more fitting so Aimou wouldn't be blown by the wind when walking.

Aimou seemed a bit surprised; she didn't expect Bologue to do such a thing, and Bologue didn't bother to explain anything.

Bologue remembered the scene in the movie where Sido said he needed the bathroom, but the detective told Sido he could deal with it on the lawn.

Although Sido was just a hunting dog, it possessed human consciousness and a sense of human shame; exchanging this understanding, Bologue could probably comprehend Aimou and ought to respect her thoughts.

After handling these matters, Bologue's figure still seemed somewhat wobbly, muttering under his breath.

"Wondering if Palmer's dead... probably not; this guy is usually quite lucky at critical moments."

Bologue then recalled the Immortal Heart that was taken by the Delusional one, hoping Geoffrey and the others would stop the Delusional one, even if he managed to escape with the Immortal Heart, he should now be on the Order Bureau's hunt list, right?

The most important thing is the Delusional one probably wouldn't expect Aimou to be in his hands, not only in his hands but also unlucky to plunge into the Great Rift together with him.

Thinking of this, Bologue looked up, staring at the dim light above.

After a long silence, Bologue suddenly exclaimed.

"Did we really fall into the Great Rift?"

Faced with this reality, Bologue had some difficulty accepting it, that he actually fell into the depths of the Great Rift, it sounded too absurd.

This brought to mind the times when he and Palmer would chat about the Great Rift while on patrol within it, exchanging those seemingly worn-out jokes.

Little did he know he would actually live through the experience one day, and that day came so coincidentally.

"How deep do you think it is here?" Bologue asked.

"I don't know."

"Huh? I thought you could gauge it," Bologue regretted.

"I'm an Alchemy Puppet, not a multifunctional toolbox," Aimou complained.

Bologue looked at Aimou with a slight frown, then sighed, "After climbing out, I'll have to equip you with a multifunctional military saber."

"Huh?"

Bologue waved his hand with a smile, looking back up at the ceiling, he approached the rock wall and placed his hands on it, trying to climb up.

With the Summoning Hand, Bologue could summon protruding platforms on the rock wall, climbing back to the surface step by step.

Just as he was about to release secret energy, Aimou stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Bologue asked in confusion.

"During your period of death, I have been surveying the surroundings, and I discovered a very critical problem."

Aimou said, the blue halo in his eyes dimming, leaving behind only a faint flicker of blue light.

"There is no ether here."

…

Gusting cold winds swept across the desolate gray-white earth. An astonishing rift, like a giant wound, opened a path on the surface reaching the Abyss.

Fanny, wearing ether-flow goggles, stood at the edge of the Great Rift, carefully observing the ether flow below.

This mysterious energy, ether, filled every corner of the world like air. It was omnipresent and often converged like airflow in vast amounts, weaving silken curves like silk.

In Fanny's field of vision, the shimmering ether flow filled every corner of her gaze. But as she shifted her sight, the farther down the Great Rift she looked, the dimmer the light of the ether flow became, until at the very depths of the Great Rift, there wasn't the slightest glimmer of light, just a blank void.

This wasn't because the ether-flow goggles were damaged, but because the position the goggles were observing truly had no ether.

Such situations frequently occurred in the world. For instance, the Origin School could disperse ether in an area, plunging the entire region into a state of ether vacuum.

But under Fanny's observation, the entire interior and deeper layers of the Great Rift were completely in a state of ether vacuum, without a hint of force flowing.

"That's the situation. The lower part of the Great Rift has been in an ether vacuum state for a long period. For both humans and Condensers, it is considered a forbidden zone for life, not to mention Undead like Bologue."

The voice came from behind Fanny, and it was Hart speaking, explaining the current situation to the others.

"According to the information you provided, Bologue's Undying Body requires a certain amount of ether to activate. We don't know what state he was in when he fell, but right now, he is likely in a state of death, in hibernation within the ether vacuum."

Hart continued, "We need to carefully formulate a search and rescue plan. Finding a living person and finding a corpse are completely different challenges, not to mention the ghostly environment at the bottom of the Great Rift."

"Indeed, the environment of the Great Rift is overly complex, let alone the bottom, which is in our blind spot. It will only be more treacherous than anticipated," Kingsley also added.

Yas stood silently in the center of the conversation, gazing deeply into the darkness below.

Since the operation concluded three days ago, after a brief rest, the Violence Suppression Action Group had resumed their activities, surveying the surroundings of the Great Rift.

This responsibility lay on himself, Yas believed. He had underestimated the forces involved in this mission, causing Bologue to fall into such a predicament.

Snow began to fall from the sky. Amidst the gray snow, another person approached. Seeing him, Yas signaled to the members, and the three of them tactfully left, leaving the area to Yas.

Soon after, Lebius, leaning on a cane, walked over to his side with Geoffrey.

"Are you drawing up a rescue plan?" Geoffrey asked.

"Yes, but progress is slow…" Yas said, his voice tinged with helplessness. "The main issue is that the Abandoned Land is the territory of the fourth group. According to regulations, we have no authority to interfere. To rescue Bologue, we must rely on them."

"Abandoned Land."

Geoffrey looked toward the darkness below, feeling a wave of fatigue.

Lebius remained as silent as ever, standing calmly, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Is Palmer okay?" Yas asked about something else.

"He's alright. Bologue nailed him to the rock wall, saving his life. Now he's at the Border Sanatorium. Although he escaped death, his condition isn't good, remaining in a coma."

Geoffrey continued to sigh, "Those two unlucky guys encountered every enemy they could during the mission. The worst part is that whether it was the Corrupted Root and Seed or the Negative Power User, they somehow managed to trade a few blows."

Yas also smiled wryly. Perhaps this was the fate of Debtors, the people favored by the Devil, who always exceeded conventional expectations.

"Lebius, do you have any thoughts? Now your most valued member is sharing a room with Calamity."

Yas asked Lebius again. He was accustomed to his friend's aloofness, but at such a moment, with Lebius still being this way, it felt odd to him.

The Serenity Defense Line enveloped the Abandoned Land, preventing ether from persisting there; Bologue's prized Undying Body would also lose its power, yet Lebius remained calmly composed.

It was as if Bologue wasn't venturing into a lion's den but merely going out to buy a bottle of wine.

"I'm not worried about Bologue. He's a professional; such predicaments won't trouble him," Lebius spoke. "What I'm more concerned about is his own umbilical cord."

Upon hearing the term umbilical cord, Geoffrey and Yas also reacted, their expressions peculiar, as if another, greater complication had surfaced.

"I'm wondering if Bologue will discover those things. If he does, how are we going to explain it to him?"

Lebius asked the two, and silence hung in the air.