Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 180 Knocking on the Door
I already said it's finished, why are you still scrolling down...?

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Thales gently opened his eyes.

where is he?

It does not matter.

The important thing is what he sensed.

His thoughts seemed to have changed—they seemed to have become more scattered and unrestrained, like a babbling brook through a veil.

He seems... indifferent to everything?
how so.

Thales had a vague idea of ​​his situation—but he didn't want to change that feeling.

That's good, isn't it?

It's like entering another realm.

Thales raised his eyes.

Before me was a hazy gray expanse... round grains?
Yes, Thales saw a gray pebble.

No, not one.

It is one of countless stones embedded in the rock.

It's amazing.

These pebbles are so far apart that no matter how much time passes, they cannot get any closer to each other.

Yet they are so close, closer and tighter than most things in the world, almost becoming one.

For thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years, they have maintained this distance, sometimes as far as an insurmountable chasm, sometimes almost face to face.

Isn't this a magical world? There's such an interesting and vivid relationship between two grains of stone that have solidified together.

What about all the other beings in this world? Do they also have such interesting relationships?
It certainly is.

Why didn't we notice these things before?
Didn't you notice the wonders of this world?

Perhaps he really was too stupid before.

Thales thought this calmly and without any emotion.

His gaze slowly rose upwards.

The pebbles were getting farther and farther away from him... or perhaps closer and closer?
That still doesn't matter.

The important thing is that the distance between him and these pebbles is changing, and at each moment of these changes in distance, they also become different from each other—the pebbles to him, and he to the pebbles, both.

The line of sight continued to rise.

Ah, I see—Thales suddenly realized—these pebbles formed the surface of a floor tile.

A rough, uneven surface with varying heights and depths.

What a wonderful combination.

They are clearly just pebbles, but because of their special distance and position from each other, they become something else entirely.

The existence is called "the surface of the floor tile".

Just like humans.

When distance and location are lost, each individual is an independent person.

But when they increase or decrease the distance, change their positions, and stand together... simultaneously in the same dimension, the same region, and the same society, they become a different kind of existence.

An existence called "crowd".

Wait a minute—a small voice told Thales in his perception—perhaps it could be the other way around; it was precisely because of their existence that position and distance were determined.

How could he know all this?
Forget it, it doesn't matter.

The important thing is—it's really fun.

Let's take a look at more.

Thales saw it: it was a gray-black octagonal tile, pieced together with countless other tiles of the same shape.

Are these floor tiles pieced together by hand? That's why the distance and height of the tiles are so uneven.

Or perhaps the people who pieced them together actually found them very uniform? Because they couldn't perceive the beauty of uniformity? The beauty of balance?
Or perhaps, this is actually their "uniformity"—that makes sense, if you look at it from a distance, isn't the floor made of these tiles very uniform?

Thales raised his gaze to its highest point.

He knew it was daytime.

This existence, known as "daytime," is defined by the position of the Earth relative to the sun.

The sun has passed its zenith—forming a beautiful perfect angle with the ground.

Before me stood an exotic house—strange, flat eaves that curled up at the four corners, a large door made of heavy driftwood, windows inlaid with crystal and glass, and black-haired, black-eyed humans in flowing robes moving back and forth between the magnificent house and its interiors.

Without exception, they all looked tense.

Why are you nervous?

Thales's thoughts stirred slightly; he knew why.

Inside that room, there was a woman—a young woman with black hair and black eyes—surrounded by a group of women, screaming in agony in a pool of blood.

The woman's lower abdomen was swollen high—she was giving birth.

They didn't need to be nervous—he saw it; the life inside the woman's womb was strong and powerful, constantly moving its limbs.

She will have a natural birth.

Meanwhile, a man resembling a woman's husband, dressed in elegant and noble attire, was being blocked outside by another group of men, his expression troubled.

"I see," Thales thought: "the isolated interior and exterior."

This explains the tense and oppressive atmosphere inside, and the agonizing hardship outside—it's such a pity they could have seen each other's condition...

Even... if they could see the woman inside her belly...

Does that mean we no longer need to feel tense, worried, fearful, or tormented?
Soon, the woman's screams stopped, and her trembling body gradually calmed down.

With a faint wail, a baby girl covered in blood was brought out.

The man outside received the news and, disregarding everything, broke through the barriers and rushed into the house.

The man knelt down in front of the bed, trembling, and held the woman's weak hand, comforting his wife nervously and anxiously in a language he couldn't understand.

The woman smiled.

Finally, someone respectfully handed the baby girl, whose eyes were tightly closed, to the man.

The man trembled as he took his daughter from him.

omg...

Thales, who was watching all of this, looked at the excited man with black hair and black eyes, and then at the woman with black hair and black eyes who looked relieved.

I couldn't help but laugh.

What would happen if they knew the truth?

The baby girl slowly opened her eyes and looked at the first person she had ever met.

The man holding the baby girl trembled when he saw her clearly.

The man looked up in surprise, glancing around at the people in a panic, uttering words he couldn't understand, seemingly at a loss.

Someone walked up with a frown, glanced at the baby girl, and then froze on the spot.

An uproar erupted inside the room.

Immediately following were the woman's trembling screams and wails, the servants' anxious attempts to comfort her, and the man's roars...

Hehehe—Thales laughed as he watched all this.

Yes, he looked at the baby girl, at her blue eyes—crystal blue eyes that seemed out of place with the black eyes of her "father" and mother.

That man probably never imagined that his wife's daughter was not his daughter at all.

It's ridiculous.

Thales withdrew his gaze, his thoughts churning mechanically:

If the man had noticed months earlier that his "daughter" had blue eyes that weren't inherited from him...

No, it's more than that.

The baby girl had noticeably fair skin, curly hair, and a slightly raised nose, which was already quite obvious before birth—unfortunately, the man didn't know.

If he knew all of this...

Does he still need to experience the same feelings of disappointment, pain, resentment, and anger as he did today, after being filled with anticipation and worry, torment and waiting?
No.

He does not need it.

But a man cannot see through his wife's belly, and therefore cannot see her betrayal—so he is destined to experience these things.

His vision is too narrow, and his knowledge is too limited.

This is the price of stupidity and ignorance.

It's both pathetic and laughable.

Thales was tired of it all, and he turned away.

Ok?
Not quite right.

He had been looking forward to seeing the interior walls of the mansion.

But what did Thales see?
The rising sun.

and also……

Black, perhaps with a hint of white?
No.

Black is the color of water.

The white color comes from the foam and reflections on the water's surface.

What he saw was the ocean under the rising sun.

The endless sea.

Endless?

No.

It's too narrow.

This sea area.

From one end to the other, this sea is very small.

It has a small island on one side and a long, narrow coastline on the other.

Yet it was very large, extremely large, almost boundless—especially for this long, narrow sailing ship, which sailed on the sea like a small boat.

Thales stared silently at the flag on the ship.

The flag features a white seagull carrying an anchor in its beak.

interesting.

Seagulls and anchors.

Sky and seabed.

That seemingly unreachable distance, yet inextricably linked.

The sailors on the ship were doing their jobs diligently.

A young man, clean and tidy, with impeccable manners and polite demeanor—a stark contrast to the rough sailors around him, their clothes stained with sweat and grime—stood by the ship's wheel, chatting with the impatient helmsman, his face beaming with excitement as he gazed at the horizon.

"Believe me, the previous setbacks were just a test for Errol... We've already passed the Black Vortex, and according to my ancestral sea chart, we'll find it soon..."

This time, Thales understood.

Although the men's common language had a rather strange accent: the intonation and rhythm were particularly pronounced, unlike the rough, vague, short and forceful northern accent or the literary accent of the Starry Sky Capital.

This young man seems to be someone important—the captain? Or perhaps one of the ship's employees?
Unfortunately, Thales laughed again—once the man turned his head, he would see the contempt and disdain in the sailors' eyes.

"How could the captain listen to this young punk—I heard he's a scoundrel from Varyab, not a nobleman?" one of the sailors whispered to his older companion, who was tidying up the mooring lines. "And he's following him, risking sailing the ship to a place like this?"

"He's definitely a scoundrel, but I don't know if his ancestors were elected to the thirty-six seats a few generations ago," the latter glared at the young man fiercely, "He owes the boss a huge debt—for some reason, the boss not only didn't touch him, but also immediately left Crystal City and rushed to this cursed place, even skipping the planned trip to Changqing Island."

"The End of the Sea Eye—is this place really that unlucky?" The first sailor frowned. "Everyone looks terrible."

"Of course, think about it," the old sailor spat, his expression grim, "Right beneath our feet, in the depths of the ocean, lies the entire Final Empire, millions of its people, reduced to skeletons by the seawater, gnawed to pieces by fish..."

"Legend has it that their wronged souls have not found peace for six hundred years, filled with resentment and pain..."

"Strange things happen here every year, really, really strange things..."

But the young man could not see what was behind him.

Even when he turned his head, the sailors would conceal their emotions and go back to their work—so he would never know his true status on the ship.

Why is he so stupid?
Did he not know that the helmsman beside him was experiencing an increasingly rapid heartbeat, a faster-flowing blood flow, and a growing sense of agitation?

Why was he still nagging at the helmsman?

Did he not know that when almost everyone on the ship looked at him, their pupils would shrink, revealing disgust and revulsion?
Did he not know that a piece of wood at the bottom of the boat was already under too much weight and could be overturned by a giant wave at any moment?

Doesn't he know?
Of course—Thales continued to laugh—no one on the ship could see that, in the thick fog several kilometers away, a menacing warship flying a blood-red parrot flag was heading towards them.

The ferocious pirates above, with their foul-smelling mouths agape, amidst the noise and intoxication, in the wine and blood, counted their spoils from a few days ago, and toyed with the trembling prisoners—especially the women.

The pirate leader was still excitedly announcing that they would return to port after seizing just one more ship.

In the pirates' armory, gleaming blades and swords, crossbows and projectile bows awaited silently.

That young man, and the ship he was on—why were they so foolish?
Why continue sailing forward?

It's something so simple, so obvious...

Why don't they know?

They live in the most magical world, yet know nothing about everything around them?
What a waste.

It's so boring.

Thales couldn't help feeling irritated.

He turned his head again.

Huh?
He saw a grain of sand in the moonlight.

sand.

Wonderful creation.

It and its countless counterparts piled together, using the same wonderfully even relative positions, to form an entire desert.

And so, countless grains of sand rubbed, squeezed, and clung tightly to each other.

And so, countless grains of sand pushed, resisted, and drifted away from each other.

Thales looked at each grain of sand in the desert and marveled at how they made up the equally wondrous desert.

He turned his head again.

I saw it—a leaf in the darkness?
This time he was more experienced.

Not just the leaves.

It was a forest, a dark forest under the night sky.

Pairs of glowing eyes peek out from the jungle—those are countless animals, either hunting or being hunted.

But they are still so pitiful.

Thales scoffed inwardly. A badger was happily digging an ant nest beside the damp mud. Inside the nest was a huge beetle, which made the hungry badger overjoyed. Unfortunately, it had no idea that hundreds of meters away, its mate, with whom it had spent the night, had become prey for a lone wolf.

The lone old wolf, who was overjoyed at the prospect of his dinner after hunting a badger, was unaware that a member of its pack, who had once been part of its kind, was being pounced on and killed by a black leopard in another tree.

Black Panther had no idea that her offspring, born six years ago, was lying dying by the stream, beneath the hooves of an enraged giant rhinoceros.

Unbeknownst to the giant rhinoceros, upstream in the stream, a group of fully armed humans were excitedly surrounding the carcass of its cousin, skinning, deboning, and removing the flesh.

Unbeknownst to these humans, countless eyes gleaming with a purple light were coldly watching them from the dense jungle behind them, silently drawing their bows in the darkness.

These pointed-eared creatures with purple eyes probably never imagined that, at a forest outpost several miles away, one of their kind was engaged in a life-or-death battle with another white-skinned pointed-eared creature, a scimitar against a rapier, and was ultimately pierced through the chest by a sword at the last moment.

The fair-skinned, pointed-eared victor spat fiercely and left disdainfully, leaving the corpse with its purple eyes on the ground to slowly rot and be eaten by a group of ants nearby.

These ants had only migrated here a few days ago, looking disheveled and defeated in another battle—driven here by a more powerful colony. But they might be glad to know that the nemesis colony that had driven them from their habitat, having just brought back the carcass of an old beetle, met its demise under the claws of a mischievous badger.

Thales watched quietly as a complete food chain dominated everything here.

Don't these creatures know any of this?

It's both funny and pathetic.

Just then, Thales suddenly felt a strange heat.

From his whole body—wait, his whole body?

Thales suddenly realized a problem.

What about his body?
In the next instant, a wonderful sensation spread to all his senses.

Countless scenes flashed before his eyes simultaneously, like curtains of water flowing swiftly by.

The eaves are all very different in style.

Sailing ships sailing on the vast ocean.

A tranquil desert under the moon.

A vibrant jungle.

Thales watched all of this intently.

interesting.

It's fun.

wonderful.

More and more scenes flashed before my eyes: glaciers in a blizzard, castles on sea cliffs, warm wetlands, grasslands under the setting sun, vast plains at dusk, fortresses at night, and the sea reflecting the moonlight...

Soon, Thales felt the world before him becoming clearer and clearer.

It's getting weirder and weirder.

He became increasingly excited and satisfied.

The whole world was laid out before him; he saw and heard everything, and knew it all perfectly.

No.

That's not all.

He knows everything.

He seemed to be standing where everything had happened.

He was involved in everything.

He is everything!
Thales is getting happier and happier.

He was enjoying the feeling.

And they want more.

More!

See more, know more, gain more.

More!

The scene before his eyes flashed faster and faster.

It's getting more and more urgent.

The scenery is getting shorter and shorter.

next moment.

"Boom!"

It felt like a thunderclap exploded in my ears.

Thales felt a sudden darkness engulf his vision.

All the scenes no longer change, but remain constant before your eyes!

It's like watching countless movies at the same time, and those movies show everything in the world!
It was as if he stood in every corner of the world at the same time.

Not only that, not only that.

Thales suddenly felt a heavy squeezing sensation in his senses.

next second.

Thales felt a violent tremor!

A dull thud echoed in the emptiness of his mind.

His consciousness seemed to have suddenly bumped into something.

Boom!
The sound...it's like someone is knocking on the door.

Boom!
His consciousness wavered again.

Boom!
The third sound startled Thales slightly!
After an unknown amount of time, Thales suddenly felt that everything around him moved instantly.

That moment was like a door being pushed open.

He entered a new world.

In this new world, his senses were incredibly sharp.

From the smallest particles and the deepest underground, to the vast ocean and the boundless sky, he saw more than just the world.

At that moment, it was as if he were the world.

But at that moment, an accident occurred.

A stinging sensation, irritating his skin, approached from his consciousness.

Thales trembled slightly, a faint question arising in his mind: What's wrong?
His consciousness seemed to suddenly rise into a silent, dark void.

Almost as soon as he entered this void, Thales had a strange feeling.

Just like instinct.

Correct.

It felt like someone was spying on me.

He didn't know how he sensed it, but his intuition told him that behind the darkness of this void, there were several strange gazes.

Thales instinctively raised his gaze, trying to pierce through the darkness.

However, the instant he had that thought, he sensed the closest being to him without warning.

It was a ball of light.

A colorless sphere of light.

Boom!
Another violent impact.

In the darkness, the colorless sphere of light suddenly appeared, giving him a hazy, shrouded feeling, as if it were untouchable.

Before he could react, the ball of light moved slightly.

Immediately, a lifeless sentence echoed in his ears:

"Not polite."

Thales's gaze flickered.

what?
This sphere of light...is it conscious?

"what?"

At this moment, the colorless sphere of light uttered a question, its words still dry and uninspired: "I've never seen you before—where is your name?"

Threshold name?

Magician... Magic... Magical Pact...

From what seemed like a layer of memory, Thales recalled several familiar words.

He suddenly felt a jolt!
But before he could think about it, his gaze suddenly moved away from the ball of light.

"Hey!"

The dry, guttural voice gradually faded, like a distant shout: "Who are you?"

Thales ignored it; his consciousness seemed to be sinking.

boom!
Thales felt his vision jolt again.

He encountered a pile of iron-gray—glittering fragments?
Unlike the previous ball of light, this pile of fragments seemed lifeless and devoid of any awareness.

But just as Thales was confused...

Another cloud of brown smoke appeared in front of us.

But the smoke gave him the same feeling as the iron-gray fragments.

It seems to lack vitality.

They can't even speak.

Thales's heart stirred, and the pile of debris and the plume of smoke slowly moved away.

Boom!
Another impact—Thales was already somewhat used to it.

Soon, a cyan light appeared before them.

But this time, the light was conscious.

The blue light has an ever-changing outline, ranging from round to rectangular, from elliptical to elongated, each shape distinct.

"Oh dear," a soft yet unpleasant voice echoed from within the blue light, its tone as pleasing as its owner, drifting throughout the room: "Which idiot is out of their mind?"

"They're actually knocking on the door?"

"Boss Freylan? Little Dumb Ashida? Old Ghost Sager? Fierce-looking Jilai? Cute Top Student L? Or Flat-chested Girl Giza?"

These names... sound familiar?

Several questions arose in Thales' mind.

This is……

where am I?
What am I doing?
Why can't I remember anything?

"Hey, hey," the voice from the blue light continued with a laugh, "Don't tell me you're the legendary Boss Toros!"

After considering a few questions, Thales' thoughts suddenly became jumbled.

In the chaos, the blue light suddenly vanished before his eyes.

"Hey, why did you leave...? It can't really be Toros, can it...?"

The voice, shimmering with cyan light, drifted from afar:
"Don't rush off... You're my idol... At least leave me an autograph..."

Thales crashed twice more, encountering two strange, lifeless, and silent entities: a silver wall of light and a golden cube.

Just as Thales was completely bewildered, a faint purple light appeared before his eyes.

The purple light flickered slightly, yet it gave him a sharp and fierce feeling, almost impossible to look directly at.

And its reaction is quite simple:
"roll!"

He seems to be a grumpy guy.

"Leave far away!"

The vicious voice continued.

Immediately afterwards, the purple glow disappeared.

Thales paused slightly, a question surfacing in his lingering consciousness:
what happened?

next second.

Boom!
After the second impact, Thales came to a glowing humanoid silhouette.

A human-shaped outline?
It flashed a familiar blue light.

Another one?
This feeling—like something constantly flowing, yet omnipresent?

However, a familiar voice slowly drifted from that silhouette:
"Stop knocking on the door."

"Thales".

Thales's mind raced.

Does it recognize me?

That familiar voice...

“We all felt your presence.”

Everyone?

My existence?

I?
In that instant, a multitude of memories seemed to suddenly flood Thales' mind.

Thales' heart skipped a beat.

"Wait, who are you..." Thales looked at the ball of light with confusion, a name faintly appearing in his hazy mind:

"Are you Ashida?"

The outline of the blue light flickered slightly.

Thales confirmed his guess.

"I was trapped underground, I don't know what happened to you, and I don't know why you were able to knock on the door directly..."

The pleasant voice of Ashida Sakorn, the mage of air magic, slowly emanated from the sphere of light. It sounded calm and composed, devoid of any superfluous emotion: "But this is too dangerous. You must immediately revert to your original state..."

Thales looked puzzled: "What?"

But "Aishida" did not respond to him; instead, the mage said anxiously:

"Listen! They sensed it too..."

They will definitely come looking for you!

"Before you are completely locked down..."

"Run away!"

Thank you all for your tremendous support during these past few days of "completion." I've seen many readers' generous donations, from 500 to 1000, from 5000 (I don't even know how the 5000 figure was generated; the app probably doesn't have that donation button, right?) to 10000. I'm truly touched...

Ahem, getting back to the main topic, "The Fallen Schoolgirl," is Wujian's third book. Please give it your support!
After the new year started, Wu Jian went to look for a job. As for updates, well, that's up to fate.

Writing books isn't my main job, so making sure I have enough to eat is more important.

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(End of this chapter)