In the days leading up to the final moment, Rita became as low-key as possible. She even stopped trimming her hair, only occasionally checking on the news about the rebel owls. She soon found out that the only remaining organization was one named "Kill the Colleague."

Rita & Nivalis: ...

They couldn't help but wonder who was in charge of this group. Was it Shadow.Q? They laughed at the thought.

After enduring this curiosity for a while, Nivalis couldn't take it anymore. Since she could return to her pet space at any time, and Rita had mentioned she had obtained a life-saving Divine Gift skill, Nivalis flew off to investigate this mysterious organization.

A few days later, Nivalis returned, looking panicked. "It really is Shadow.Q."

Rita: ?

"What do you mean by 'it really is'?" Rita asked, confused.

Nivalis pulled out her phone and showed Rita a picture. On the screen was an owl with a serene, almost transcendent smile, exuding a "detached from the world" aura—exactly like a certain meme of someone wearing a winter coat and smiling with a lotus in hand.

Rita couldn't help but feel a little concerned for Shadow.Q's mental state. Could she really have worked for 300 years?

Nivalis shook her head. "I asked her directly. She said she's Shadow.Q." Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

"But she's not crazy," Nivalis quickly added. "She told me she usually works for 10 years every 40 years—spending 40 years meditating, and just 10 years gathering intelligence. She doesn't do more than that."

Meditating, huh? That was an interesting way to put it. Considering how long she'd been at it, Nivalis figured she'd probably been at it for around 50 years at least.

"She must be losing her mind," Rita mumbled, worried.

"So, what's her organization like now?" Rita asked.

"There are only two people left—Shadow.Q and Sanchez."

Nivalis showed another photo, where the owl looked less serene but more defeated. This owl, sporting ski board shoes, was sitting under a tree, lazily trimming her nails with a dagger. Her expression said everything: "I'm done with everything."

Rita was genuinely shocked. "Is that Sanchez?!"

Nivalis nodded and then started sharing all the gossip she had learned. "Sanchez's identities have always been decent, but she keeps killing owls with better identities than hers. Her family always helps cover for her, and she ends up in jail. Sometimes she escapes, sometimes she doesn't. She told me she's spent half her life in jail—she's been in the prisons of Peach, Maple, and Pine."

Prison for 150 years?

Nivalis wasn't sure if she was wasting time, but she did remember that some of the inmates were experts. Maple Mu and Maple Syrup had once debated whether to release them to atone for their pasts, but Maple Cang said that those owls were too unstable, so they kept them locked up.

"Sanchez is always causing trouble," Nivalis added, sighing as she patted Rita on the head. "At least you're not going crazy."

Rita rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

Nivalis, now pondering, asked, "You know in those cultivation novels, where people lock themselves away for hundreds of years, not talking to anyone? How do they do it? Would modern people even be able to handle that kind of life?"

Rita shrugged, replying casually, "Maybe they just spend a hundred years fishing for small things while pretending to break through. In reality, the time spent on the actual breakthrough is only a few days. They look at the time, realize it's been a century, and think, 'Oh no, my disciples are about to die!' So they finally decide to break through."

Nivalis laughed and rolled around in Rita's lap.

Despite her lightheartedness, Nivalis began to understand what it was like to set a goal and have time fly by, just like her school years. Once she had set herself the goal of cooking dishes that scored 95 points, before she knew it, half of her time had already passed.

As the final day of leaving the tower arrived, Rita found herself slightly anxious. She told Nivalis to stay in the pet space unless called for, and that was the last time they spoke before the final moment came.

After 300 years, it felt as if she were finally released from a long prison sentence. When she stepped out of the tower, it felt like stepping into a warm spring after a cold winter. The warmth seeped into her from deep within her soul. She hadn't even realized how cold she had been until this very moment.

She took a deep breath and felt her body and power once more. It was as if she had entered a temple, and her mind found peace. Then, a sound like the ringing of a bell echoed in her ears, vibrating through her very soul.

When Rita opened her eyes, she found herself under the sky of Eternal Night Fortress. The battle song she had heard countless times on the Owl battlefield rang in her ears.

She looked around to see tens of thousands of owls gathered, with a figure she recognized standing before her—the Owl King, who was smiling warmly at her. But then she noticed someone else standing next to the Owl King. It was... Maple Cang?!

Maple Cang's gaze swept over the furry wind scythes standing around her. Rita felt something stir in her, as if Maple Cang was searching for something.

Rita's eyes moved instinctively to the Fate Out of Sync tower's peak. Inside, the Moon Sand was gone—vanished without a trace. A rush of excitement surged within her. This was the best result—Moon Sand was now in her hands, and the task for Blue Star was complete. But for some reason, she had the strange feeling that the moon in the sky above the fortress was dimmer than usual.

As her thoughts drifted, she started scanning the area. One, two, three... six. There were only six wind scythes. Six owls floating in the air, illuminated by moonlight. No one was using any flight abilities, yet they were all floating, as if by some invisible force.

She recalled that she and her squad had been the last to enter the tower. So, out of the 51 who entered, only six had made it out?

Before she could fully process the situation, a notification rang in her ears:

[Ding—Detected player is the fated savior of the Owl Spirit Maple Burn.]

[Owl Spirit Maple Burn has voluntarily given you her orange-red wings.]@@novelbin@@

[Upon accepting the wings, your race will not change.]

[These wings will embed themselves in your soul, becoming one with you, and cannot be separated.]

[You will gain all the talents of these wings.]

[Additionally, you will randomly inherit one skill from the Owl Spirit Maple Burn's Divine Gift—.]

[If you refuse, the wings will have no place to exist and will fade away completely.]

[This may be the new life you've been searching for, or it could be a nightmare from which you can never awaken.]

[Do you accept?]