There was no sound at first.
No scream.No wind.No impact.
Only falling.
Yin Lie and Qin Mian dropped through a column of white light so blinding it erased all shadows. There was no sky above, no ground below—only motion, endless and directionless, like gravity had lost its meaning.
Qin Mian's fingers slipped from Yin Lie's.
"Lie—!"
He lunged, catching her wrist just as she drifted away into the void.
"I've got you!"His voice was rough, breathless.
She clung to him with both hands.
The light swallowed them whole.
Then—
Darkness.
A single heartbeat.
Then—
They hit something.
Not ground.Not floor.
Something soft and cold, like a lake surface that wasn't water.
It rippled beneath them.
Yin Lie groaned as he pushed himself upright, still holding Qin Mian's hand.
"You okay?"
She nodded weakly.Her breathing unsteady.Her eyes darting at the impossible landscape around them.
"What… is this place?"
Yin Lie finally looked.
And froze.
The In-Between Dimension
They were standing—floating?—in a world that didn't obey shape or logic.
The "ground" beneath them was a translucent sheet of shimmering surface, like frozen moonlight. It pulsed faintly, responding to each step.
Above them was not a sky.
It was a sea.
A vast, upside-down ocean of stars drifting overhead like slow-moving clouds.
Fragments of shattered Rift and pieces of the real world floated around them—a broken railway beam,a chair leg,a piece of a Hunter's armor—all orbiting lazily as if suspended underwater.
Qin Mian whispered:
"This place…feels quiet.Too quiet."
Yin Lie nodded, tense.
"It's not a place we should be able to reach.This is between worlds.A buffer.A space they never intended anything living to fall into."
She hesitated.
"They?"
Before he could answer—
the "ground" shifted under their feet like a living thing.
A ripple spread outward in perfect circles.
Yin Lie pulled her close.
"Stay still. This dimension reacts to movement."
But the ripples didn't stop.
Instead, they carried shapes.
Reflections.
Dozens of them.
Qin Mian gasped.
The ripples reflected the memory chamber—
her younger self, crying in the dark.Ge Ren holding her hand.Scientists whispering behind glass.
Another ripple shifted.
It reflected Yin Lie's childhood.Snow.Blood.A boy collapsing in the cold.A voice calling him a danger.
Qin Mian reached toward his reflection without thinking.
"Lie…"
He caught her hand quickly.
"Don't touch them.This place doesn't just show memories—it devours them."
Her eyes widened.
"What does that mean?"
"It means if you touch one," he said quietly,"You might never come back to yourself."
The reflections dissolved at once, as if offended.
The dimension grew darker.
A soft hum filled the air.
A hum that grew louder.
And louder.
Until the entire in-between space vibrated like a tuning fork struck by a giant hand.
Qin Mian clutched Yin Lie's sleeve.
"Lie… something's coming."
The Guardian of the In-Between
The ripples converged.
A shape rose from the shimmering ground—slowly, like a statue awakening.
It wasn't human.
It wasn't creature.
It was a void silhouette, tall and slender, like the negative space of a missing person. Where its face should've been was only swirling darkness.
Qin Mian's chest tightened.
"I… I've seen something like this. In my dreams."
Yin Lie stepped in front of her, shielding her.
"Stay behind me."
The silhouette tilted its head.
Then it spoke—
not with a voice,but with the vibration of the entire dimension.
"ANCHOR."
Qin Mian flinched.
"Don't call me that."
The silhouette didn't seem to hear her.
Or maybe it simply didn't care.
"ANCHOR. RETURN TO YOUR DESIGNATION."
Yin Lie's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"She isn't going anywhere."
The silhouette shifted its attention to him.
"OBSTRUCTION."
A wave of force blasted outward.
Yin Lie grabbed Qin Mian and rolled with her, the ground rippling where the wave hit.
They skidded across the surface, sparks of white light trailing behind.
Yin Lie coughed, pulling her back into his arms.
"Not a friendly thing," he muttered.
Qin Mian looked pale.
"It knows me.It knows my role.Lie… I wasn't just created—I was assigned to something."
He cupped her cheek.
"Mian.You're more than whatever they made you for."
Her eyes softened with emotion—
just as the silhouette raised both arms.
The dimension shook violently.
More silhouettes began emerging from the ground.
One.Three.Seven.A whole circle.
All empty.All hollow.All fixated on her.
Qin Mian whispered:
"Lie…We're not supposed to be here."
"No," he said."But we're also not dying here."
She reached for his hand.
Their fingers intertwined automatically.
She took a breath.
"Then… let's face them together."
He nodded once.
But the Dimension Has Its Own Rules
They tensed to move—
—but the in-between dimension froze them in place.
Literally.
Their legs wouldn't move.Their arms wouldn't lift.Their breath caught, suspended.
Qin Mian's eyes widened with terror.
"Lie—Lie I can't move—!"
He struggled, muscles shaking, but nothing responded.
The silhouettes stepped closer.
The space beneath them glowed with symbols—
old, ancient, geometric.Keystone patterns.
Qin Mian gasped.
"T-those symbols—they're the same ones that appeared on my skin before I woke…"
Yin Lie felt a chill run through him.
The silhouettes reached toward her.
Slow.Inevitable.
The dimension whispered:
"ANCHOR.FUNCTION: BIND."
Qin Mian's heartbeat spiked.
"What—what does that mean—?!"
Yin Lie's voice was hard, desperate.
"Mian, listen to me—whatever they're trying to make you do, fight it—!"
The silhouettes touched the air around her—
and the entire dimension tore open into kaleidoscopic fractures.
Qin Mian screamed—
her memories rushing back,her resonance exploding outward,her power twisting the dimension itself—
and Yin Lie broke free just enough to grab her hand again.
Their fingers connected.
Their palms pressed.
Both gasped.
The world collapsed.
And everything went white.
—Chapter 104 End—