Chapter 195 (Chapter 194) Ballads

Mother Goddess,

Your fragile child is experiencing war and suffering.

You open your eyes deep within the Ruins of Return, and the gathering of spirits grants strength to your fragile child.

You provided us with fertile soil as our roots, allowing us to settle down again.

Crowned with the blazing sun, we are crowned on the throne of death.

Golden bones reshape our bodies, and a heart of light beats eternally within our chests.

You bestow the scepter of life upon the traveler.

To bring the dead back, and to keep the living from yielding.

Finally, you take the tides of Guixu as your blessing.

May we be fearless, may we be safe and joyful.

Yan Shi softly recited the last two lines: "May the tides bless you with fearlessness, and may you find peace and joy."

Those lines sound so familiar.

Yan Shi pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized.

Isn't this roughly what the unknown person said when they gave her the longevity lock?

Combined with the other phrases in this ballad, it seems to be a spiritual authority taking stock of a list.

Therefore, her longevity lock, which is also the blessing of the tide, is the power of water.

The blessing of the tide still lingered on her chest. Unlike the scorching sun crown, which liked to act on its own cleverness, it was extremely quiet, and apart from the slight warm coolness it always emitted, it had no other presence.

One Hundred Bedtime Rhymes

Yan Shi: ?

She checked it again.

That's right, "100 Bedtime Rhymes".

Yan Shi: ...

No, how did a book with this name end up in the ancient books?

She slowly raised her head and looked at the towering bookshelves and the still chandelier above; the entire ancient book room was solemn and quiet.

Then she looked down at the book in her hand, the cover of which featured an illustration of a baby yawning.

The process of Zhan Zhou is about to end.

"Lanlan." Lin Cai came out of the rare book room carrying a thick stack of books, sat down next to her on the floor, and asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"

Yan Shi: "...professional references."

Without batting an eye, she quickly flipped the book back open, obscuring the illustration of the cub on the cover, and began trying to change the subject, "What kind of book is this?"

Lin Cai: "Lanlan, didn't you give us a practical assignment to go to the Floating City?" She showed the book cover to Yan Shi while explaining, "I want to find some information about the Floating Church."

“Libertas told me that the residents of the Floating City worship the Floating Church. But the Floating Church has been expelled by the laws, and the only way to find related records is in the Chronicles of the Inner World.”

Because chronicles are the history of war, everything that happens is recorded factually.

If the Floating Papacy was indeed once prominent and existed, it would certainly have influenced the war to some extent and left a record in the annals.

Yan Shi raised an eyebrow and looked at the book in Lin Cai's hand.

It was very thick and written in a script that Yan Shi couldn't understand, which perfectly matched her stereotypes about ancient books.

Simple, dull, and boring—it was a type of book that she had absolutely no interest in.

Yan Shi withdrew his gaze: "You're a first-year student, why did you choose to study advanced spell application?"

She genuinely didn't understand.

To take advanced spell application courses, you need to have a certain number of perfect grades. Lin Cai is only a first-year student, and the first final exam hasn't even started yet, so how could she have perfect grades?

Lin Cai's face lit up when she heard her question.

She knew it; Lanlan really cared about her!

“Libertas has reached the elective threshold,” Lin Cai explained, her eyes sparkling. “We are a practice team. First-year students can use the grade of a highly difficult course as their grade for a year’s practice.”

"So after we applied, the academy granted us special permission to take advanced spell application courses."

Yan Shi: ...

As expected of the main characters.

After the question was answered, the ancient book room fell silent again.

Yan Shi had little interest in ancient books and just stared blankly at the pages with little interest.

Beside her, Lin Cai was referring to the dictionary, turning page after page of the Chronicle of the Otherworld, a focused look that Yan Shi rarely saw.

The world favors its comic book protagonist, and the protagonist always repays the world with unwavering determination, moving forward.

So it was indeed because Zhan Zhou's teaching job was too easy, which led her to drift off into aimless, random thoughts.

Yan Shi shook his head to clear his mind of the chaotic thoughts and casually took out his phone.

Yan Shi silently turned off his phone screen and sighed.

Suddenly, I realized that ancient books weren't so boring after all.

At least the bedtime rhymes book she had was quite interesting.

The page she randomly flipped to at that moment contained a very short folk song.

Grandma went on a long trip.

My mother said she went to visit the Mother Goddess.

The Mother Goddess lives in the sea, very, very far away.

There were many candies and flowers there.

Later, my mother also went to visit the Mother Goddess.

Carrying flames and my longing.

Clearly, this is a story about death.

Is it really okay to write this in a bedtime rhyme for a toddler?

Yan Shi often couldn't quite understand the way the inner world raised its young.

Her phone kept vibrating.

Yan Shi frowned, took out his phone, glanced at the caller ID, paused for a moment, then slowly sat up straight and stood up.

"Lanlan?" Lin Cai noticed her movement and looked up in confusion. "Are you leaving?"

"I have something to do, I'll be going now," Yan Shi replied softly.

Lin Cai: "Huh?"

Yan Shi was backlit, so Lin Cai couldn't see her expression. She could only see her walk straight towards the door of the ancient book room, and as she passed the bookshelf next to her, she casually put the book she was holding back.

The door closed gently, shutting out the soft light and tranquility inside.

Stepping out of the rare books room, Yan Shi stopped in a corner of the fourth-floor corridor, lowered his eyes, and finally answered the phone.

"Yanshi," Lin Zizui's voice came as usual from the other end of the phone, "Where are you now?"

Yan Shi leaned against the wall: "Mom. I'm in the capital."

"That's perfect, no need to bother anymore." In the background of Lin Zizui's voice, there was a faint rustling sound of pages turning. "Go to the Summer Palace gate at six o'clock tonight."

The General Administration of Customs closes at 6 PM.

She was absent from work today without asking for leave, and then openly waited at the workplace entrance at the designated time to leave...

Yan Shi: "Mom, can we go a little later?"

"Six o'clock would be best." Lin Zizui paused for a moment, then continued, "Of course, it mainly depends on your schedule."