Chapter 153 The Ship's Secret Chamber

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This was a chamber designed to isolate elemental magnetic power, with walls as solid as gold, seamlessly sealed. The chamber wasn't large, containing only a single, hard, silver-white bed against the wall; the remaining space barely allowed for simple movements and turning around.

Now, this tiny chamber held two people, a man and a woman.

"My goodness, what place is this? I'm going crazy being cooped up here." The woman, driven to desperation, tugged at her hair. "You've been here even longer than me, how can you remain so calm?"

"What else can I do? I don't have hair to pull, and I don't think it helps anyway," the man replied indifferently. "This must have been a solitary confinement cell in the spaceship, intended to break a person's will and make them submit. I don't want to give them the satisfaction."

"Solitary confinement? Why would humans lock up their own kind? Not just physically imprisoning them but also sealing their spirits. Lucky for me you're here; I would've gone mad if I were alone." The man didn't respond, prompting the woman to realize something. "Do you think I'm superfluous? Taking up both the bed and the space? Before I arrived, all of this was yours."

"I wouldn't forget the beauty of a garden just because I now only have a withered flower, nor would I treat this twig as a forest."

"But will we ever see the forest again?" The woman's mood soured. "But why would Silver Wolf, Aurum Aspire, lock you up too?"

"I don't know. But from your tone, it seems you know why you were locked up? Did you walk right into his trap?"

The two, Flame Wave and Jadelle, had been missing. According to Aurum Aspire's timer, Flame Wave had been confined for fifteen days, Jadelle for five. The timer merely served to remind them to consume "Satiety Pills" once a day—a Silver Department invention that prevented hunger, excretion, and provided just enough energy to survive.

"Delivering oneself to be locked up," Jadelle rolled her eyes weakly. "They say 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,' but men are truly the most heartless."

Flame Wave remained silent. Aurum Aspire had once promised to treat Jadelle well, whether she was the Jadelle of the past or not, she was needed then. And now? Was she no longer needed, or did she serve another purpose? "You keep saying 'humans' as if you've distanced yourself from them."

Jadelle laughed sarcastically. "Yes, I wanted so badly to be a normal human, a woman who could give up her self for a man, only to end up here. Shouldn't I have realized by now?"

"So, Aurum Aspire was right; you really are a Sky Whisper reincarnated through the Elixir of Rebirth?" After all this time, the shock Flame Wave felt upon first hearing the news had been digested. The fall of the spaceship, the burning Sky Whisper, he could accept, but what about the acknowledgment of Jadelle as Jade Thistle? "Why does Aurum Aspire think you're Jade Thistle? Is there a connection between you and her?"

"I don't know," Jadelle touched her chest, puzzled. "I have some of her memories, but they're chaotic, mostly filled with worries and unhappiness. Looking too much into them makes me uncomfortable. Even without trying, some emotions spill over and affect my mood. Why do people seek trouble? Yet, there's a warm and calm emotion, which I think is the love you can't give up on despite the trouble. I don't know if I fell in love with the feeling or the man himself."

"Why are you so determined to be human?" Flame Wave mused. "Having emotions is complicated, but everything in the universe has its troubles. Why envy others?"

"Because the bodies of Sky Whisper are fragile; we needed a solid existence to host our spirits, and human bodies are the best vessels," Jadelle explained. "Human technology, with its ability to clone bodies, meets the needs of Sky Whisper, so we did everything we could to board the human ship."

"Board the human ship by any means?" This information intrigued Flame Wave. "Did you reach some agreement with humans, which they then failed to honor?"

"It's not that simple, but I don't know much more, as I wasn't one of the original Sky Whisper when humans first landed," Jadelle shook her head.

"But you know you're inhabiting a human infant's body, retaining her memories," Flame Wave pressed on. "So, you were conscious before inhabiting her body, essentially displacing the real human consciousness—Jade Thistle's?"

"No, no," Jadelle denied. "The Jade Thistle you knew truly died. She was too miserable to wish for rebirth, so she sought..."

"Sought Silver Tan's help?" Flame Wave filled in.

"You knew?" Jadelle was surprised. With nothing left to hide, she continued, "Because Silver Tan was a Silver Elder, knowledgeable in the secrets of the Elixir of Rebirth. She feared you'd force her into rebirth, so she begged Silver Tan to tamper with the Elixir."

"So, Silver Tan played along, utilizing her memories?" Flame Wave sighed. "She was foolish. Didn't she know that in all these years, no so-called powerful beings have successfully rebirthed?"

"But we succeeded, didn't we?" Jadelle said proudly. "We accomplished what humans couldn't. That's how we're gradually resurrecting our Sky Whisper clan."

"So, all the women of the Bamboo Clan are reborn Sky Whisper?" Flame Wave pondered, ignoring Jadelle's hesitant objection. "When you say you did what humans couldn't, do you mean merging genes and memories through the medium of Sky Whisper spirits, ultimately identifying as Sky Whisper rather than human?"

"What do you mean by identifying as Sky Whisper? We are Sky Whisper," Jadelle asserted firmly.

Flame Wave didn't want to dwell on identity issues, lost in thought. Habitually, he played with the Silver Wolf mask.

"Huh? What's this? It smells familiar, like the Endless Sea..." Jadelle curiously eyed the Silver Wolf mask. "Can I see it?"

Flame Wave, who disliked others touching his personal items, simply explained, "This is the Silver Wolf mask. You must have heard of it."

"Oh, this is the Silver Wolf mask?" Jadelle had heard of the infamous mask, aware it was Jade Thistle's creation. "I've seen it in her memories, but it was vague, like looking through someone else's eyes... as if every time she did something related to you, it was experienced by someone else, unrelated to her..."

Confused by Jade Thistle's feelings, now faced with the Silver Wolf mask, she experienced a mix of familiarity and strangeness, something on the verge of realization. After pondering, she exclaimed, "Ah, I know, it's Ocean Bloom..."

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