The underground intensive care unit in the Twelfth District.

Night Frost’s cheap old master lay inside. Tubes covered his entire body, and he was so thin he was little more than skin and bones.

His chest rose and fell slightly. Green and yellow lines shifted across the computer screens on either side of him. They were proof that he was still alive.

The Old Woman stood before the wide glass wall, her gaze fixed on the old man inside the intensive care unit. By now, she was crying so hard that no sound came out.

They had promised to grow old together. But judging by the old man’s condition, he would probably leave this world before her.

They had considered this possibility before getting married. They had spent years preparing themselves for it. Yet now that it was about to happen right in front of her, the Old Woman still found it impossible to accept.

As a Magic Maiden, the Old Woman could live longer than the old man. But now, she would rather abandon that identity. She had lived long enough.

She placed her palm against the glass and lowered her head slightly, unwilling to look at the old man’s current state.

Then, all of a sudden, she felt a scorching gaze pierce through the thick glass partition and fall upon her.

The source of that gaze was the old man lying in the hospital bed.

His cracked lips moved faintly, as if telling the Old Woman not to worry. They would spend the time they had left together, wouldn’t they?

“Are you certain you want to leave the intensive care unit and transfer to a regular ward? I respect your wishes, but without these machines, you probably won’t live for long…”

The nurse hesitated. “You’re a master of Formations in the Twelfth District. Your death would be an unimaginable loss.”

The old man on the bed pleaded with the nurse in a weak voice. She couldn’t make the decision herself, so she prepared to consult the attending physician and Blade.

Blade placed profit above all else, but she still understood human feelings. Otherwise, how would she differ from those lofty Magic Maidens in the other districts?

She respected the old man’s wishes.

Blade made a call. Naturally, she contacted Moon Owl.

Moon Owl was related to the old man. Since he had made his decision, his family’s opinion had to be consulted. Her agreement was practically a formality.

“Your grandfather wants to leave the intensive care unit.”

Moon Owl was silent on the other end for a moment.

Then she hung up. With a single flash of movement, she tore open a spatial rift and arrived before Blade.

Her Mana was completely restrained. Nothing about her suggested that she was a Magic Maiden.

Over the past few months, she had fully mastered the spatial power of Chapter Three. If she faced that black-robed woman again, Moon Owl was confident she wouldn’t lose.

“I’ll go ask him myself.”

Moon Owl vanished once more. She had probably already reached the intensive care unit.

The nurse inside was startled by the figure suddenly appearing beyond the glass partition. After taking a closer look, she realized that the woman in black was the new guardian of the Twelfth District.

The nurse had worked here for many years. She knew that the patient and Moon Owl outside were relatives.

At first, Moon Owl had visited him every day. But with the border situation and internal problems in the Twelfth District worsening, she had come less and less often.

“You’d better talk your grandfather out of this,” the Old Woman said anxiously. “That old fool… old man wants to leave this place. How can that be allowed?!”

The Old Woman knew how poor the old man’s condition was. Death was already close at hand. If he left the intensive care unit, death might come knocking the very next day.

“I’ll ask him.”

Moon Owl picked up the intercom in the corner. It was connected to the landline beside the old man’s bed, allowing them to speak with the outside world.

“I need a proper reason, Grandpa…”

“I’ve lived long enough. I know my life is coming to an end.”

The old man’s voice was weak and hoarse.

“I only lived these extra few months because of the Twelfth District. I should’ve died long ago.”

Moon Owl clenched her fists. Her heart ached at the sound of his voice, but there was nothing she could do.

He was right. His life should have ended already. The Twelfth District had merely forced it to continue with expensive medicines.

“I’d already planned to find a successor, then pick some random place and die there quietly. But that little girl from the Twelfth District dragged me back.”

The old man coughed lightly. “She kept saying the Twelfth District needed me.”

He had found a successor. She was the daughter of a former friend, and she was talented enough to carry on his legacy.

The “little girl” he mentioned was naturally Blade.

Back then, the Twelfth District had been surrounded by enemies. Some people had wanted to tear it apart completely. The old man cared deeply for his homeland, so he had stepped forward without hesitation.

He returned to the Twelfth District and created countless Formations. Whenever the district faced danger, he had done everything in his power to protect it.

“Now the Twelfth District is stable. It doesn’t need an old man like me anymore…”

He coughed again.

“I don’t have many days left anyway. For the time I have remaining, I don’t want to spend it separated by a glass wall. I want to walk around a little more. I want to see all of you again.”

His voice came through the intercom and reached the ears of both the Old Woman and Moon Owl.

“Good granddaughter, and Pingfang… just treat this as my final wish…”

Neither Moon Owl nor the Old Woman could refuse him.

It was his wish, and he had already prepared himself to die.

But the Old Woman and Moon Owl hadn’t.

“Let him transfer. Otherwise, he’ll make a huge fuss.”

The Old Woman looked at Moon Owl. She understood the old man better than anyone. After living together for decades, she knew every hair on his head.

“I want to be closer to him, too.”

Since both the Old Woman and the old man had agreed, Moon Owl had no reason to stop them as his granddaughter.

She called Blade and told her that they agreed to the transfer.

After receiving Blade’s approval, the old man was moved from the intensive care unit to a regular ward.

Without the machines keeping him alive, his body would surely weaken day by day.

The old man lay on the stretcher. His aged, rough palm clutched the Old Woman’s hand tightly.

His wrinkled face forced out a smile that she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“It really has been a while. What are you crying for? We’re both in our seventies or eighties already.”

The Old Woman quietly wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and steadied her voice as much as possible.

“I’m not crying. You saw wrong.”

“You… you’re still as stubborn as ever.”

The old man smiled.

His laughter echoed through the corridor. Yet every hoarse chuckle made the Old Woman’s heart ache.

After the old man was moved to the regular ward, the Old Woman stayed behind with him.

Moon Owl returned to Blade’s office. Blade still had something to discuss with her.

“That day, you went to deal with several spatial rifts, so you weren’t at the meeting. Since you’re here today, I’ll tell you about it while I can.”

Blade quietly opened a can of coffee. It helped her sort out the timeline.

“Two days ago, after Zhao Qingsnow and the others returned, we held a meeting. The discussion focused on what they had seen in District Twenty One.”

“Zhao Qingsnow said they encountered a powerful enemy in District Twenty One. Ordinary users of Cantata Three were no match for her.”

Blade paused. “According to the information we have, that person’s realm seems to be called Ultimate.”

She pushed a book and a small box toward Moon Owl.

The book was naturally the notebook Night Frost’s father had left behind in District Twenty One. It contained little of practical value, but it recorded some information about the Key and the Gate.

Moon Owl’s gaze fell on the box.

A faint rhythm lingered inside it. Though extremely weak, that rhythm was incomparably pure.

Moon Owl’s body stirred restlessly. It yearned to obtain that trace of rhythm.

She had a feeling that it could push her strength to a new height. Still, she suppressed the sensation.

First, the source of this power was unknown. Second, that tiny amount of rhythm was nowhere near enough for her.

“What’s inside the box?”

Moon Owl was very curious.

“This box contains the spoils we obtained after Kaneko sacrificed herself. It fell from the Seeker of District Twenty One.”

Blade’s expression grew solemn. “It seems this thing was what pushed her strength to a new height.”

“Kaneko? That’s terrible news. She hadn’t even joined the Twelfth District for long.”

Moon Owl’s eyes widened.

“Wait. You said Kaneko? How could she…”

When Moon Owl had glanced at Kaneko back then, she had sensed something unusual inside the girl’s body. It had made it impossible for her to control her Mana properly.

Moon Owl had never expected Kaneko to unleash such overwhelming strength and drag the Seeker of District Twenty One down from her “divine altar.”

“Kaneko seems to have been an artificial human,” Blade said. “The counterfeit Magic Stone inside her could temporarily raise her strength to Cantata Three. That’s Zhao Qingsnow’s account. I don’t know the exact details either.”

“If Kaneko hadn’t sacrificed herself, Zhao Qingsnow and the others would have died there.”

Moon Owl praised Kaneko’s courage. From the bottom of her heart, she admired the young girl, whatever her identity might have been.

“She was a hero. I’ll remember her.”

Moon Owl opened the box.

Inside lay a charred Eye Orb.

She could sense a trace of vitality within it.

“This thing is still alive!”

“This is the real reason I called you here.”

Blade’s gaze sharpened. “According to Zhao Qingsnow, this Eye Orb seems to touch upon a field ordinary people could never hope to reach.”

Moon Owl sat up straight.

Blade waved a hand. “You don’t need to be so serious. It’s only the two of us here.”

“What field?”

“Time.”

Moon Owl could no longer remain seated. She shot to her feet.

The Eye Orb inside the box had shrunk countless times, yet it was actually connected to the realm of time.

Did that mean her younger sister, Illusory Glass, might have a chance to awaken?

“Sit down first. Don’t rush.”

“Mm.”

Moon Owl realized that she had lost her composure. She sat down again and continued listening to Blade.

“We don’t know the exact reason, but apparently, this Eye Orb caused the time in District Twenty One to rewind by half an hour.”

“The rewind wasn’t complete. Everyone still retained the memories of what they had experienced. It was like having a prophetic dream.”

“After several days of research, our branch’s institute concluded that this Eye Orb is related to time.”

Blade took a sip of coffee.

“When it opens its eye, a line of numbers even appears. Those numbers have never changed, but we don’t know what they mean.”

“This thing is unknown to us. Using it recklessly could cause problems, so I’m leaving the decision to you.”

Moon Owl carefully held the Eye Orb.

No matter what, she had to try.

This was Illusory Glass’s chance to awaken.

Seeing the determination in Moon Owl’s eyes, Blade knew that she had made up her mind.

Moon Owl was just as bullheaded as her grandfather.

Perhaps this really was a case of birds of a feather flocking together.