The Eyeball’s Secret

Fu Ziqing, still stunned, felt that wave of sorrow and nostalgia last only a minute or two.

After all, two decades had passed. She knew well that self-pity would never solve her problems. Moreover, she had always been adept at managing her emotions; otherwise, she would have gone mad long ago.

What was more important now was to understand exactly what that large orb was, and what this space truly entailed.

And so, Fu Ziqing, who had vowed just two minutes prior never to return to that space, found herself back within it once more.

The colossal orb still hovered in the vast, white void, shrouded in plumes of black mist.

The black mist drifted outwards in all directions, only to vanish abruptly at a consistent, invisible boundary.

Fu Ziqing observed from a distance, a strange feeling stirring within her.

The way it suddenly disappears at a uniform distance… is it as if a boundary has been drawn? she wondered.

Having regained her composure, she no longer felt the same panic as before. Though a faint unease still lingered, she cautiously approached the enormous orb.

Previously, Fu Ziqing had only observed the orb closely from a single direction, never truly grasping its full appearance.

This time, Fu Ziqing drifted to another angle.

As she beheld the orb from this new perspective, Fu Ziqing’s mouth fell open in astonishment once more, and she murmured to herself:

“This… what is this?”

From Fu Ziqing’s current vantage point, a long, slender slit was visible at the center of the orb’s surface.

“A giant eyeball?”

Fu Ziqing sounded uncertain.

After a brief hesitation, she ultimately drifted towards the narrow slit.

She intended to observe it up close.

As she drew nearer, the black mist slowly began to swirl around Fu Ziqing.

She gazed at the black mist, pondering its connection to what was known as ‘ghost energy’.

The ghost energy Fu Ziqing had taken from the hooded man earlier was greyish-black, while the ghost energy from the female ghosts she had shattered was even more distinctly grey.

This particular black mist, however, was purely, intensely black.

Could this black mist actually be highly concentrated ghost energy? she mused.

With this thought, Fu Ziqing’s gaze upon the colossal orb grew even more cautious.

At the same time, Fu Ziqing subtly reached out, as if casually trying to grasp a handful of the black mist.

Yet, her palm felt nothing, and the black mist remained utterly unaffected by her movement, its trajectory undisturbed.

This was peculiar.

She had always been able to grasp ghost energy before. If this black mist was merely a denser form of it, she shouldn’t have failed.

Fu Ziqing then secretly tried to inhale some, but it had no effect on the mist either.

It was only then that Fu Ziqing realized the black mist hadn’t been swirling around her at all; it had been passing through her body.

There was simply no contact, or perhaps no possible contact, between Fu Ziqing and the black mist.

Upon this discovery, Fu Ziqing furrowed her brow and abruptly shifted her gaze to the narrow slit on the colossal orb.

She had a daring idea.

And she immediately put it into action.

Fu Ziqing drifted closer and closer to the massive orb, until she was just an arm’s length away.

At such close proximity, Fu Ziqing could even discern fine, delicate hairs on the orb’s surface.

She was now directly before the orb’s slit. However, due to the orb’s immense size, what was called a ‘slit’ appeared to her more like a deep, elongated ‘grand canyon’ stretching out of sight.

Fu Ziqing gazed at this ‘grand canyon’, and after a moment of thought, abandoned her intention to explore its depths.

Instead, she drifted towards the edge of the ‘grand canyon’, stopping before a relatively smooth section of the orb’s surface.

With an impassive expression, Fu Ziqing slowly extended her hand…

Her fingertips drew closer, then touched the orb’s surface, and then… passed right through.

“As expected…”

Fu Ziqing murmured softly to herself.

“It’s not just the black mist; I can’t touch this massive orb itself either.”

What was happening?

Fu Ziqing’s brows furrowed deeply, unable to comprehend the reason for this phenomenon.

Then she pondered aloud:

“Is it because the orb is a living entity? And this black mist isn’t ghost energy after all?”

As she voiced her doubts, the colossal orb suddenly vibrated slightly.

Fu Ziqing startled, swiftly moving away from it.

What was a minor tremor for the orb felt like an earthquake to Fu Ziqing.

Fu Ziqing rapidly drifted away, glancing back at the orb as she went.

She watched as the orb’s narrow slit slowly began to open…

“This…”

As the slit widened, a prickling sensation spread across Fu Ziqing’s scalp.

Within the expanding opening was a massive, blood-red eyeball!

The enormous eyeball rolled around, its inky black pupil seemingly searching for something.

In that instant, Fu Ziqing suddenly recalled the book the hooded man had produced last night; the eye that had opened within its pages was also a vivid, blood-red orb.

Though the two eyeballs differed vastly in size, Fu Ziqing inexplicably felt they were one and the same.

“No way!”

Fu Ziqing instantly executed a ninety-degree turn, leaving a lingering afterimage.

She needed to escape the giant eyeball’s line of sight before its dark pupil could lock onto her!

“This thing is relentless! How did it even follow me home?”

Fu Ziqing now understood. This space was still her ‘home’, not the giant eyeball’s territory. But if the eyeball had pursued her here, would this place ever be safe again?

Fu Ziqing’s mind raced, yet her speed remained undiminished.

Suddenly, however, she noticed the giant eyeball had ceased moving. Its pupil was fixed on a particular direction, but it wasn’t her location.

A sliver of carelessness crept into Fu Ziqing’s mind, and she slightly reduced her speed. Just then, the giant eyeball abruptly rotated with startling swiftness.

“Whoa! How cunning!”

Fu Ziqing fumed, but it was too late. The giant eyeball’s pupil had already swiveled towards her.

At this point, Fu Ziqing could only cling to a slim hope that this space might somehow restrict the giant eyeball.

Then, Fu Ziqing suddenly stopped, blinking her eyes.

“Huh?”

The giant eyeball’s pupil, after rotating to Fu Ziqing’s position, didn’t stop. Instead, it continued to swivel in various directions aimlessly.

“It can’t see me?”

Fu Ziqing questioned aloud to herself.

The truth, however, was already plain to see.

The giant eyeball continued to rotate aimlessly on its own.

Did this space restrict the giant eyeball’s senses? Fu Ziqing wondered.

She considered this, yet something still felt off.

Nevertheless, knowing that this massive eyeball posed no threat to her, Fu Ziqing finally felt a measure of relief.

She even deliberately drifted back and forth at a distance before the giant eyeball.

Soon after, the giant eyeball seemed to grow weary and closed its lid.

Fu Ziqing circled the eyeball twice, her brows furrowing once more.

“Can’t I just get rid of this disgusting thing?”

she shouted towards the vast, pale emptiness beyond.

She was speaking to the space itself.

Evidently, however, the space could not reply.

Fu Ziqing felt a pang of disappointment.

While the giant eyeball posed no immediate threat, its colossal presence in her ‘home’ was truly unsettling to behold.

The more Fu Ziqing stared at the giant eyeball, the more irritated she became. Yet, there was nothing she could do about it, which only intensified her frustration.

“Forget it! Out of sight, out of mind!”

With these words, Fu Ziqing prepared to leave the space.

Suddenly, however, Fu Ziqing noticed fine black threads beginning to drift from the surface of the giant eyeball.

Regardless of where they emerged from the eyeball, these threads invariably drifted upwards, soaring higher and higher, yet always remaining connected to the colossal orb.

“This is…”

Fu Ziqing’s mouth slowly fell open.

Because the threads emanated from various points on the massive eyeball’s surface, and the eyeball itself was so immense, they initially appeared scattered. However, as they ascended, they gradually converged.

Before long, viewed from a distance, the giant eyeball resembled a comet plummeting downwards, trailing a long, black tail.

After watching in wonder for a while, Fu Ziqing could no longer suppress her curiosity and drifted closer.

She floated towards the black ‘tail’.

Seeing the dense, countless black threads up close, Fu Ziqing instantly thought that anyone with trypophobia would likely go insane on the spot.

Fortunately, Fu Ziqing didn’t suffer from it, and while she felt a faint, unsettling itch in her mind, it was bearable.

Fu Ziqing’s gaze followed the dense black threads upwards, but all she saw was the pale, distant void.

Subsequently, she ascended, following these black threads.

Even if she couldn’t discern what lay in the vast, white void above, Fu Ziqing reasoned that these threads couldn’t be floating out without a reason, nor without a destination.

She had always suspected this space was more than just a boundless expanse. After the events of last night, she was even more certain that this place was far from simple.

Fu Ziqing’s gaze stretched towards the vast, white expanse above.

What truly lay beyond that boundless void? she pondered.

Lost in thought, Fu Ziqing followed the black threads, ascending higher and higher.

Her speed surpassed that of the black threads, and she soon found herself floating above them.

Looking back from above, Fu Ziqing saw the black threads resembling a dense shower of arrows.

At this moment, Fu Ziqing suddenly had an idea.

She drifted to one side, and once the black threads floated past, she reached out, attempting to grasp one of them.

This time, she firmly clutched a thread in her hand.

It felt cold to the touch.

Even held in Fu Ziqing’s grip, the thread continued its upward ascent, pulling her along with it.

Before Fu Ziqing could fully register this novelty, she suddenly felt the thread in her hand begin to tremble.

Following this, she felt her consciousness connect with the thread. As she closed her eyes, a series of images flashed before her.

She witnessed a stranger’s brief life: from birth to schooling, then entering society to work and struggle, until one night, she collapsed in a pool of blood.

Fu Ziqing slowly opened her eyes, then calmly grasped another thread.

She saw yet another stranger’s entire life unfold.

Fu Ziqing proceeded to grasp various threads, witnessing the lives and deaths of different individuals.

Throughout this process, her expression remained unchanged.

It wasn’t until she spotted a dark red thread among the multitude of black ones that her demeanor shifted.

A hint of confusion flickered across Fu Ziqing’s face, and she reached out to grasp the distinctive thread.

She closed her eyes.

Then suddenly, Fu Ziqing’s eyes snapped open.

Her eyes were wide, her expression utterly blank.

She had seen herself!