Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 695 The Heartbeat of the Capital
Eliadodic glanced at his flickering lantern, hurried to his collection room, and quickly went to the room where the first lantern was kept.

The first lantern had indeed vanished, leaving only white feathers scattered on the display case.

Eliadodic stepped forward and picked up a feather to examine it.

Suddenly, a noise came from behind him, making him turn around.

The clothes he was wearing looked like a processing bureau uniform, but the insignia on them were lanterns, not the processing bureau. The clothes were badly torn, revealing skin that was so white it seemed to glow.

A pair of small wings sprout from the sides of its head, and three pairs of wings grow from its back. Soft, long feathers extend from its body like ribbons, either wrapping around it or hanging down naturally.

Only his hair remained black and white, and his dark brown eyes stared at Eliadosci without any emotion.

Several chains were wrapped around his waist to hold the broken lantern in place, and the sound of a beating heart could be heard coming from it.

“I know the secret hidden in this lamp, but we have different paths and different opinions among the lamp holders. Out of respect, I kept it here, but I never expected it to end up in your hands... and even help you pass the test and achieve an unprecedented awakening.” Eliadodike looked at Hong Yijia with a glint in his eyes.

"It hurts so much..." Hong Yijia said.

"Ok?"

"Most of them are very painful...and they make me feel a lot of pain too."

Eliadodic raised his chin slightly, as if he understood something: "It's strange, Hong Yijia, you and your family are the kind of people I admire. Born of white, with good character, giving everything for Dadu... yet you stand on the opposite side of me."

"Because our understanding of 'Dadu' and 'people' is somewhat skewed," Hong Yijia said, her voice low and somewhat subdued, seemingly unsurprised.

“I have indeed neglected the ecosystem of the Bureau over the years.” Eliadodike admitted his mistake.

He then raised his lantern: "With the help of my teacher and the first lamplighter, you have just awakened from an ordinary person with pure white factors to a lamplighter, but you have taken the first step in the ascension of your life form and embarked on the path I once walked. However, you are still too young to be my match."

Hong Yijia replied, "I didn't come here today to possess this power in order to defeat you."

Eliadodic looked at her.

“There are people who can defeat you, but what’s more difficult for us is what happens after we defeat you. That’s why we need to lay the groundwork today and give everyone plenty of time to prepare.” As Hong Yijia spoke, the lantern at her waist flashed faster and faster, and her heartbeat became more and more rapid.

Eliadodike immediately made a move, but before he could utter a sound, he felt his lantern move without his intervention.

Only Hong Yijia's voice lightly brushed past my ears: "Mind image coverage."

All the lantern bearers, regardless of their location, automatically activated their mental images at this moment. However, what was being activated was not their own mental image, but Hong Yijia's... or more accurately, Dadu's.

All the lamplighters felt the overwhelming wails and screams. They were in the capital of their minds, watching their homeland crumble and their souls being torn apart.

What are all these things?!

The question had barely arisen when, amidst immense suffering, the answer became clear.

The heartbeat of "Dadu".

In the heart of this mental metropolis, the upside-down six-winged angel slowly opened its eyes, its body clad in ethereal white, except for its eyes, which remained as simple as those of an ordinary mortal.

All the lamplighters saw Hong Yijia's gaze; those eyes were fixed on them, and the emotions contained within them had already been conveyed bluntly.

This mental image unfolded without launching any substantial attack. Even though the pain from the capital was enough to destroy the minds of many, the people who held the lamps endured it together.

Immediately, the lamplighter opened his eyes, his consciousness returning to reality. What he had just experienced felt like an unexpected dream. Only the dizzying, aching brain and the faint, sharp pain he felt on his skin reminded him of the stark reality.

"Perhaps... we should stop?" The lantern bearer, who had been overlooking the capital for a long time, said hesitantly.

"I can't take it anymore, this is just pure killing." Coincidentally, another Lamplighter stopped a group of Seeds of Light. They had broken through a shelter in the Gray District, where the refugees had nowhere to escape and were basically left to die.

The Seeds of Light were dumbfounded.

The battle was already difficult for them, and now their own leaders are suddenly saying they're quitting one after another?
"What exactly is Dadu? And what are the people of Dadu? What is the difference between gray streets and white urban areas?" A lamplighter looked up at the sky in bewilderment and asked.

"Your Excellency, the Undying Lighthouse, can you answer our questions?" Eliadodike coldly stared at Red Jade before him: "Quite the method."

"This isn't some kind of tactic, it's just... they couldn't take it anymore," Hong Yijia replied indifferently.

Most people who light lamps are really very simple-minded.

The words that Niu Qianliu had said more than once were proven true at this moment.

Without saying another word, Eliadodike took a deep breath, raised his lantern, and struck it hard to stop the influence from Red Jade. The lantern immediately stopped flickering.

Hong Yijia's eyes were serious.

"【aurora】."

A white beam of light shot into the sky, breaking through the labyrinthine corridors from the depths of the thousands of passageways and reaching the outside world, soaring straight into the heavens.

Hong Yijia was lifted into the sky by the strong impact. Her six wings flapped gently, and her body floated lightly in the air without any serious injury.

Eliadoscohe stands high in the sky atop the aurora borealis.

Suddenly, an image was projected from the Central Television Station in Dadu and landed in every corner of Dadu—it was Bai Wucang, the central leader of Dadu.

At this moment, Bai Wucang's face was bruised and swollen, but thankfully it wasn't so swollen that it was disfigured and unbearable to look at. However, anyone could tell that this leader had probably been severely beaten not long ago.

But what does it mean that Bai Wucang can still stand up and send out such a large-scale message at this time? What instructions is he going to give?
Many people blamed the current disaster on the leader. Even if Bai Wucang had no way to express his grievances, he was a leader whose real power had long been reduced to just a little bit of safety net. He had already done his best to become the lamplighter. What else could he expect?

He had just witnessed the massive mental image coverage launched by Hong Yijia. It was impossible for him to feel nothing; as a lamplighter, he could not possibly be completely oblivious to the pain in Dadu.

Therefore, the speech, which was originally given under duress, now carried a greater sense of genuine emotion.

"Gentlemen, I, Bai Wucang, in my capacity as the central leader of Dadu and the lamplighter, make a request to you... Please stop."

Bai Wucang raised his lantern to prove his identity.

At this moment, the identity of a central leader has only some symbolic significance, and the identity of a lamplighter, even if he is considered to be among the top in terms of strength, does not have much influence among the many lamplighters present in the capital.

However, the combination of these two identities creates a completely different feeling.

"This war is meaningless. The Gray District should not be abandoned; they are also part of the capital! The people of the Gray District are also the people of the capital! Please stop attacking each other! Our real enemy is still watching us, waiting for us to kill each other..."

Composing himself, Bai Wucang got into the zone. He only read the beginning of the speech Lin Yilin had prepared for him before abandoning it and began his speech with great passion. Even his inaugural address had probably never stirred his emotions so much.

Clearly, knowing that becoming a leader is like jumping into a fire pit and being unable to deliver a factual speech is completely different from the situation where one might actually be able to change something, or at least become a bargaining chip or a cog in the machine of change.

The horrific scene in Dadu, the corpses, the violence, and the invasion of machinery, all overwhelmed Hong Yijia's mind, and a sense of war-weariness rose among the lamplighters...

With each layer building upon the previous one, the speech delivered by Bai Wucang became the crucial step in the current situation.

The Seed of Light teams, which were clearing out the gray districts, stopped their operations. A sudden riot broke out within the Pure White Society, and teams from other societies came to its aid. The anti-pure white faction within the Pure White Society seized the opportunity to seize power.

The wind direction has truly changed.

……

Eliadodike lowered his eyes and gently shook his head: "Fine, since you don't want to leave anyway, I'll take as much as I can."

After saying that, he pressed his hands down.

The violent tremors occurred throughout the capital, and the source appeared to be underground.

The aurora borealis of Eliadodike paved a white railway for it—the Zero Subway transcends time and space, traversing from underground.

(End of this chapter)