Chapter 2927: Umbilical Cord Blood Nova

Did even the method of birth have to mirror it this perfectly?

This sudden scene undoubtedly pushed the sinister nature of the Bottom Layer of the Dream to a new height.

Fu Qian, however, instantly realized what was happening.

Just like over by the Red Moon, the production line here was running continuously.

If he wasn't mistaken, the face attached to that hand would belong to yet another Annalise—and he was exactly right.

Unlike the elegant descent from the sky over by the Red Moon, this blood-oozing gash displayed the shuddering, slippery slickness of childbirth.

Following a violent spasm, a humanoid silhouette was squeezed out of the gash along with a gush of bloody fluid.

Sure enough, that bloodstained face immediately opened its eyes, revealing irises of that exact same color.

Annalise plus one.

Yes, just like by the Red Moon, the Annalises here were also being born continuously.

It was just that one fell from the sky, while the others sprouted from beneath his feet, looking even more like a genuine "production" line.

Was Annalise actually gestated directly from the Underground? Fu Qian didn't think he had misunderstood, as the most direct piece of evidence lay right in front of him.

At a glance, that distinctly adult body was trailing a long Umbilical Cord.

Even her clumsy crawling, which began immediately, gave him a sudden sense of déjà vu.

As for the gash that had birthed her—

Fu Qian lightly leaped over and landed beside it, staring down at the fleshy root tubes intertwining like snakes inside.

More Umbilical Cords?

No, it would be more accurate to say it was entirely made of Umbilical Cords.

When Fu Qian landed, as if offended by his dirty shoe soles, the originally smooth mudflat unexpectedly rippled like a tide. He could clearly feel the flesh squirming beneath it.

It was the same squirming as the Umbilical Cords inside the gash.

Could the entire "bottom layer" of the Bottom Layer of the Dream be made of this stuff?

An Umbilical Cord planet?

Fu Qian still didn't mind this new act of discrimination, simply visualizing the scene. There was even another name for it—the Blood Nova?

Could the blood in that name actually refer to Umbilical Cord blood?

Was the thing Serana had been looking for beneath their feet this entire time?

Whether it was the ruins or the Full Moon Garden, were they all just a layer of dirt and grime resting on top of it?

And if it really was a sphere... Fu Qian looked up at the sky again, recalling the scene by the Red Moon.

Wasn't this the exact same? There was a moon in the sky, and a moon beneath his feet.

It was just that the one in the sky was white, and the one below was red.

...

There was an obsessive-compulsive kind of beauty to it.

Thanks to his vivid imagination, Fu Qian deeply felt the symmetry between the Progenitor of the Blood Clan and the Red Moon.

[Annalise is Tilanqi, and Tilanqi is Annalise]

Just like that phrase, the two sides seemed to echo each other everywhere—the "new Tilanqi" descended from the sky, while the "new Annalise" crawled out from the Underground...

You stand on the Half-Step Moon, bathing in the radiance of the blood-colored moon—

I crawl upon the Blood Nova, intoxicating myself in the ancient moonlight—

Fu Qian bent down and lightly brushed his fingers across the ground he stood on, feeling its vitality.

Unsurprisingly, the ground below instinctively contracted again, shying away from the close contact.

However, compared to the seawater, this was at least some progress—

When Fu Qian pulled his hand back, his fingertips were conspicuously coated in a layer of greenish-black, oil-like liquid.

It was this concealing layer of liquid that had made the entire mudflat look somewhat natural earlier, making it difficult to immediately discover its fleshy essence.

As for how this layer of liquid came to be?

Fu Qian's gaze fell beside another stone pillar exposed by the receding tide; it didn't seem too hard to figure out.

In that spot, another hunched figure was curled up, and compared to the other Annalises, her condition was noticeably much worse.

It wasn't strange. When he was counting earlier, he had already noticed that despite their synchronized movements, there were clear differences among the double-digit number of Annalises. Some were obviously in better condition, while others had completely entered the state described earlier—their bodies like bloated noodles, twisted completely out of human shape.

There were even quite a few trapped among the rubble, no longer possessing the strength to struggle free.

Another prominent characteristic of theirs was that this slime was much more abundant on their bodies, as if they had crawled for so long that they were completely covered in it.

That was normal. Where there was new birth, there was decay.

Otherwise, with this kind of "production" efficiency, it would be hard to imagine there being only thirty-something of them after a thousand years.

So just how many of them had there been over the past millennium?

Fu Qian inhaled softly. What came to mind was the substance he had encountered along the way, filling the crevices of the architectural wreckage, which he had described as "greenish-black corpse oil."

Was it possible that this filth hadn't stuck to their bodies while they crawled, but was instead smeared onto the ground by them?

Over the course of a millennium, the Annalises had never given up on rushing toward the sea.

But in the end, was it all in vain beneath the sweeping, merciless waves, their twisted bodies gradually melting away to eventually fill the crevices of the ruins?

Recalling the vast distance he had traveled, Fu Qian seemed to gain a deeper understanding of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan's determination.

"Need some help?"

Empty verbal empathy wasn't enough. Amidst his musings, he had already stepped up to the trapped Annalise and enthusiastically offered his assistance.

"Mnn—"

The facts proved that certain instinctive reactions still remained.

Faced with such a direct question, those red eyes, having already lost all their luster, still shifted in his direction.

He could even vaguely hear a strange sound emanating from her throat.

It was a song.

The next moment, as Fu Qian listened carefully, he found that the sound coming from her throat was that familiar, gentle melody.

And as if it had served as an opening note, more voices soon converged from all directions.

The lullaby sounded once again.

...

Where did the Umbilical Cords come from, and why did the bright moon shine? Just how had the once ambitious Progenitor of the Blood Clan ended up in such a state?

For Fu Qian, there were actually many questions he hoped to find answers to.

Including why the dregs in the sea were entirely made up of this kind of architectural wreckage, to the point that it looked so similar to the Furnace?

In the silence, Fu Qian spotted a piece of rubble shaped like a lampstand that had been pushed forward by the seawater.

Despite being such a heavy object, it was easily swept up and rolled along by the waves.

Such a scene seemed to confirm his earlier speculation—that these places he had walked through were truly carved out by the impacts of the "sea of mind."

Pop—

While analyzing his gains, Fu Qian still hadn't forgotten a certain side quest.

He uncorked his bottle and collected a sample of genuine Umbilical Cord blood from the path Annalise had crawled over.

Casually swirling this harvest, Fu Qian refrained from harassing the wave-chasers any further. Instead, he started from the beginning, silently appreciating the contents of the lullaby.