Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 547 The Fall of the Sparrow's Shade

Those who are afflicted by the Sparrow's Yin (鳥陰) have a soul that does not ascend.

The soul that fell from the building was startled but unaware.
Its resentment is like the wind, its fall is endless.

—From *Zi Bu Yu: The Record of Fallen Souls*

Night engulfed the entire neighborhood.

The gray fog churned in the wind, like a sea stirred up by someone.

The abandoned office building stands alone, its windows shattered and rusty.

A man stumbled out of the stairwell.

His breathing was rapid, and his heels pounded on the floor, thud, thud, thud.

Footsteps echoed through the empty building, like a chasing echo.

But that wasn't the only sound.

"Da da da."

Another rhythm came from deep within the corridor:
The sound of high heels grew clearer with each step.
It's as if they're imitating his steps.

He turned around, but there was nothing there.

Fog poured in through the broken window, and a cold wind blew straight down my spine.

He gritted his teeth and pulled out a mysterious card.

[Life-type - Thunder Fox Protection Formation]

A flash of blue light, and a phantom of a thunder fox appeared beside him.

The fox's tail exploded with arcs of electricity, forcing the shadow back half a step.

The sound seemed to grow even closer.

It felt like someone was breathing into my ear.

He turned sharply.

The fog condensed into a red shadow in the middle of the corridor.

Her red dress was soaked through, and her long hair hung down, obscuring her face.

She was hanging upside down in mid-air, toes pointing upwards.
It slowly "walks" down the ceiling, head down.

"I've found you."

Her voice sounded like a broken cassette tape.

He flipped through the cards again, his fingertips trembling.

【Fate System: Mirror Gate Step】

He tore open the card, and the silver light flashed and then disappeared.

invalid.

The light seemed to be instantly swallowed up by some kind of curse in this space.

The sound of high heels stopped half a step in front of him.

She didn't look up, but slowly stretched out one hand.

The nails were black, and cold water was dripping from the fingertips.

He instinctively took a step back, and the phantom of the Thunder Fox roared and pounced on him.

We passed through it. Like passing through fog.

Her fingers rested lightly on his shoulder.

Ice, cold, hard.

The next moment, the world tilted.

It wasn't him who moved; the entire building was turning to the side.
The ground and the wall swapped positions.
The floor seemed to have been gently twisted.
Gravity breaks, vision flips.

black.

The wind suddenly roared.

He landed heavily, the cold cement scraping his skin with a hissing sound.

Looking up, I realized I was already on the rooftop.

There were no lights around, and the area below the city was completely empty.
The wind whistled past my ears like knives.

He murmured, "...Back here again?"

A very soft sound came from behind:
"boom."

He turned back sharply.

A woman's body fell from the rooftop.

Red clothes, long hair, limbs twisted

It fell at his feet.

Her head was tilted to the side, and her neck was bent at an odd angle.

The bones were making a "crackling" sound.

She used her joints to support herself on the ground and slowly crawled up like a spider.

Her long hair was loose, revealing half of her pale and sunken face.

She smiled. Too sweet.

"Jump?"

Her tone was like she was being coquettish.

"Didn't you say you'd stay with me for life?"

She reached out and gently pushed with her fingertips.

His feet suddenly lost their footing.

The body was blown away by the wind.

The center of gravity tumbles in the air—and falls.

The city ruins swirled into a red line in his eyes.
All I could hear was the howling of the wind.

That red figure stood silently at the edge of the rooftop.

She leaned down, her face pressed against the edge of the rooftop.

The corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

The wind swept past the hem of her skirt, carrying with it ripped pieces of blood-red cloth.
In the gray fog, it looked like a flower.

The fog has pressed down even lower.

Before dawn, a grayish-white light enveloped the entire abandoned street.

The dilapidated streetlights leaned crookedly, occasionally flashing a cold light for a few seconds before going out.

The envoy and his entourage walked along the street.

Half of the sign on the street corner was missing, and the sheet metal flapped in the wind, making a dull metallic sound.

Roland carried a map and marked it as he walked.

"The purification of the seven spirits is complete. Now proceed according to the order of the seven spirits..."

He looked up at the blurry street ahead. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the area of ​​'Sparrow's Shadow'."

Selene twirled an iron nail in her hand and asked lazily, "What does 'Sparrow Yin Soul' signify? It doesn't sound very auspicious."

The God of Fate said softly, "When a person falls, they are terrified and unaware. When a person falls from a building, their soul does not return to the earth, and is then captured by the magpie's shadow."

Celian raised an eyebrow: "So you mean... a ghost fell down from upstairs?"

Roland smiled wryly: "Now that you mention it, it's quite a vivid description."

They walked to the front of an old high-rise building.

The building was blackened by smoke, all the glass was shattered, and the windows looked like a row of empty eyes.

Roland pointed to the building, about to speak.

“Whoosh! Bang!”

A muffled thud interrupted him.

The air seemed to be torn apart and pressed down, and a figure plummeted from the sky.

It crashed heavily onto the street in front of them.

Dust and blood mist exploded together.

Selene was the first to react, quickly taking half a step back.

Her pupils suddenly contracted.

That's a person.

The man's body lay twisted on the ground, blood gushing from his mouth and nose.

His clothes were tattered, and a familiar badge on his chest gleamed in the cold light.

Roland's voice was somewhat stiff: "That is... the emblem of the Mystic Guild."

Si Ming crouched down and probed with his fingertips.

The man's chest was still rising and falling slightly, and his breathing was extremely weak.

"Alive."

The man suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

A few words were squeezed out of his throat:

"...Quick...run away..."

He slightly raised his hand, pointing in the direction behind them.
The next second, it slumped down completely, powerless.

The blood meandered into a thin line on the ground.

Celian frowned: "He just fell from up there?"

Roland looked up—at the top floor of that abandoned building.

Several windows were slowly closing, as if "watching" them.

He whispered, "Something's not right here."

Si Ming stood up, his expression suddenly turning cold.

"Roland, save them. Celian, be on alert." As he spoke, he flicked his fingertips, and the light patterns of the illusory chessboard spread out from beneath his feet.

A checkerboard pattern spread across the street, the white and black squares spreading out like a living thing.
It instantly enveloped the area where they were located.

A thin layer of fog appeared on the reflective glass at the street corner.

Light shone through the fog, casting blurry shadows.

The wind suddenly stopped.

The entire street fell into an unnatural silence.

Even the sound of dripping blood was terrifyingly clear.

Selene looked up and scanned her surroundings.

She could hear footsteps coming slowly from above.

It wasn't coming from the ground, but from the wall.

Step by step,
From far to near.

She whispered, "They're here."

The chessboard of the God of Fate is glowing.

The light between the black and white squares alternates between light and dark like breathing.

The air is getting colder.

Their breaths began to mist in the air.

Roland was about to speak,
Suddenly, a broken mirror on the street corner clicked softly.

Fog rose on the mirror surface.

The mist swirled in the mirror, condensing into a human-shaped reflection.

The image showed disheveled hair and wet clothes.
A pair of feet dangled from the edge of the mirror.
It's reversed.

She lowered her head and smiled softly.

The laughter was soft and gentle, yet as cold as a knife.

"...I've found you again."

Selene gritted her teeth, and blood mist rose from her hand.

"This place... is indeed strange."

The wind suddenly stopped.

The entire street seemed to have been sucked of its air, leaving only the lingering smell of blood.

The water stains spread inch by inch on the ground, and a cold sensation rose up from the soles of my feet.

The gray mist rolled and slowly turned blood red.

A soft laugh came from afar.

Roland supported the unconscious Mystic with one hand and looked up.

The fog at the alley entrance was lifted.

Three female ghosts slowly appeared from different directions.

One crawled on the ground, limbs bent backwards.

One was hanging upside down on the antenna mast, his hair hanging down like a snake;
The last one retreated backward through the broken window.

Feet first, body flows out of the window frame like water.

They both looked up at the same time.
laugh.

The smiles were eerily similar.
A torn mouth, blank eyes.
The red dress billowed gently in the mist.

Selene's pupils constricted instantly.

She whispered, "They're here."

Blood bloomed between her fingers.

She reached out and made a sweeping motion, and crimson energy spread through the air.

"Blood Servant—Come forth!"

The fog was dispelled by the blood vapor.

Two dark figures crawled out from her feet, a blood wolf growled, and a swarm of bats flapped their wings.

They rushed straight at the crawling female ghost.

"Bite them to death!"

The blood wolf pounced!
But it passed through.

At that moment, it was as if a blood wolf had rushed into a mirror.

The female ghost's body encountered no obstacles, and the blood wolf's figure flashed and disappeared within her body.

The swarm of bats swept across her cheek, taking nothing with them.

Celian paused for a moment: "...Invalid?"

The female ghost raised her head, a grin spreading across her face.
The voice was so soft it was almost a whisper:

"Shadow, how do you fight a shadow?"

She moved.

They crawled toward Selene in a posture completely contrary to human anatomy.

The limbs intertwined, making a screeching sound like spider legs scraping against the ground.

Roland reacted extremely quickly, raising his hand and waving it.
The plague mist spread from his sleeves, and a dark green aura enveloped the street.

A pungent smell immediately filled the air.

"Let's see if we can suppress it!"

The black mist swallowed the red figures.

Just two seconds.

Then, the red color of the clothes lit up again.

They continued walking, slowly emerging from the poisonous fog.

The mist flowed around their bodies, but could not adhere to them.

“…No,” Roland whispered, “they don’t have any form at all.”

The God of Fate has already set out the illusory chessboard.

Black and white checks spread across the ground, like a flowing spatial maze.

Each square is separated by a blurry dotted line.

He raised his hand and whispered, "Falsehoods and lies, chess pieces placed on the board."

The spatial structure of the chessboard began to distort, and the streets became overlapping illusions.

But the female ghost continued on her way.

Their footsteps were silent, yet they drew closer step by step.

He passed directly through the chessboard wall, through the grid lines, and through the spatial rifts he created.

Siming's pupils shrank.

They don't belong to the world of rules at all.

"withdraw!"

He shouted coldly, his voice booming through the silent street.

Roland immediately carried the unconscious sorcerer on his back.

Selene raised her hand and released a blood mist.

Thick, blood-red mist billowed from her body.
It formed a red curtain on the street.

The three of them retreated together, their steps quick, but they dared not make too much noise.

Within the blood mist, the three red figures stopped.

They didn't chase after them.

Just stand there.

The mist enveloped their bodies.
The red dress fluttered in the still air.

It's like watching silently.

Then, they smiled softly.

Run!

The voice was soft and gentle, like the wind brushing past your ear.

"I will find you."

Laughter echoed through the mist, carried from afar.

Roland turned around, his expression grave.

"These are not ordinary vengeful spirits; they must be products of the rules of the Sparrow Yin Altar."

Si Ming didn't speak, but quickened his pace.

The blood mist gradually faded, and they emerged from the alleyway.

The sky was still dark, the morning light had not yet risen, and the fog was still churning.

In the distance, three red figures still hung in mid-air.

His body swayed slightly, like a paper figure being carried by the wind.

Their skirts hung down,
The gray fog swirled,

It was as if the curtain was slowly closing—

A ghost story that is not yet over.

Behind them, the drama continues.

Those who fall are not truly fallen; their souls do not return to the earth.

Only where the lamp is lit can the sparrow's soul find peace.

—From *Zi Bu Yu: Postscript to the Fallen Soul*

(End of this chapter)