[ · April 5, 2025, 7:40]

Su Ming'an opened his eyes.

In the morning light, his hands were clutching the iron bars in front of him, his school uniform stained with grass and mud, his feet stepping on the bushes, looking like he was planning to climb over the wall.

He widened his eyes... What is Wang Xingkong doing? Climbing over the wall?

"Bro, are you really trying to escape? Leaving the campus will get you punished, I don't want to get beaten by that old man Shen Zhuo..." a lively male voice came from behind.

Su Ming'an turned around to see a flat-headed boy in a school uniform, with big eyes and a pouting mouth, timidly following behind.

The Wang Xingkong perspective has a nine-hour time difference with the main perspective. Although it's already dusk in the main perspective, dawn is just breaking for Wang Xingkong. Since Su Ming'an doesn't control the perspective in person, it's controlled by himself. Judging by the situation... After Shen Xue's dance rehearsal ended, Wang Xingkong is trying to escape the Mingxi campus with this boy?

At such a critical moment, Su Ming'an happened to switch over.

"If you want to escape, follow me." Su Ming'an climbed over the wall directly.

He had always been curious about what was outside the Mingxi campus. During the third instance before, he never paid attention to the scene outside the campus.

The boy rubbed his hands, the name tag on his chest read "Chen Yuhang," and with stretched hands, he nervously followed Su Ming'an over the wall.

Today was a rest day, most students stayed in their dormitories, and their escape went unnoticed. Su Ming'an used one hand to support spatial concealment, allowing Chen Yuhang to follow behind him.

"Whoa! Invisibility magic? Bro, that's awesome, where did you learn that?" Chen Yuhang was stunned.

Su Ming'an didn't respond, he kept walking until he reached the end of the road, and then he stopped.

Beyond the campus, the road extended, but at the end, there was only emptiness. Outside Mingxi campus, there was nothing.

These instances must be floating in the skies of Luowasha. If he were to jump into the void, would he fall into Luowasha?

"—Stop! The two in front, stop!" At this moment, a team of security guards chased after them with batons. It was unknown how they found the invisible Su Ming'an, perhaps Shen Xue had sensed it.

"Brother Wang! We've been discovered!" Chen Yuhang was terrified. His relationship with Wang Xingkong seemed good; otherwise, he wouldn't have been brought along when escaping.

Su Ming'an glanced at the emptiness in front of him and grabbed Chen Yuhang's sleeve: "Jump!"

"Jump, jump where?"

"Can't you see this emptiness?"

Chen Yuhang looked over: "What emptiness? Isn't this a perfectly fine road?"

As a local NPC of Mingxi campus, his cognition was limited, and he couldn't see the emptiness at the edge of the world.

Su Ming'an pulled Chen Yuhang and charged forward, bending his legs, jumping—

"Brother, why are you jumping onto the road, bro you—ahhhh—!" Chen Yuhang was surrounded by the sound of wind, and the feeling of weightlessness as they fell made his eyes widen instantly. He looked down in shock as the road turned into blue skies and white clouds.

The fierce wind blew through Su Ming'an's black hair as he squinted and looked downwards, seeing the outlines of Luowasha's land and sea through the clouds. If not for him holding up the spatial barrier, just the lack of oxygen and low temperatures would have been formidable challenges.

He glanced at his combat power.

...

[Combat Power: 700 (When you switch perspectives, you inherit the combat power of that perspective, all skills are retained.)]

[Wang Xingkong's Skills: 1. Forceful Punch (Blue Level) (A forward punch delivers slight physical damage and a knock-back effect). 2. Windflow (Blue Level) (Manipulation of small-scale wind currents). 3. Transform into Skeleton (Replica Skills) (Transform into a skeleton, increasing combat power to above 1200 points). 4. Basic Physical Skills lv.3.]

...

This is the standard combat power for the third instance. However, although the combat display shows 700 points, Su Ming'an's personal skills are fully retained, and his real strength far exceeds this value.

They happened to pass through a rising air current, and under windflow manipulation and spatial displacement, Su Ming'an dragged Chen Yuhang along as they stumbled to the ground.

Chen Yuhang rubbed his eyes, stunned by the scene of Luowasha—fantastical creatures with wings in the sky, a blue moon and red sun sharing the sky. The ground was a wasteland landscape, with steel thorns resembling sprouts growing, wind sands accompanied by stones rolling, and the scent of gunpowder filling the nostrils.

"Oh my gosh, where did this come from, is this still Mingxi?" Chen Yuhang was dumbfounded.

"This is the real world," Su Ming'an said. Compared to Mingxi campus, Luowasha was much more real.

Chen Yuhang widened his eyes, carefully recalling, suddenly realizing that in his memory, the boundary outside the campus was very vague. He had never felt anything amiss before, only now did he realize it.

A sense of fear arose, suddenly he felt his life was like a dream, previous memories seemed implanted, only now did he feel awake.

"—This is the third mobile squad, there's stragglers over there!" Suddenly, a piercing shout came, and a figure appeared among the dilapidated buildings, holding a walkie-talkie and a riot shield, a heavily armed soldier.

Luowasha spans a vast area, with diverse local styles. There is the underwater Atlantis, the medieval kingdoms of dragons and brave men, and the wasteland-style cities, like a mosaic cake pieced together. Taking a few steps feels like crossing several eras.

Su Ming'an didn't know where his random jump had landed him.

That soldier looked clearly at Su Ming'an and Chen Yuhang's appearance, hesitated for a moment, then lowered his riot shield: "...Wait, seems they're not enemy paratroopers, like... two students?"

The walkie-talkie transmitted coarse feedback: "You're saying they are students!? Kasar Country is at war daily, with not a stalk of wheat left, refugees wander everywhere, how could there be students nearby? Execute immediately on-site! Patrol finished then return to the team, in the northeast No.3 city zone there are many enemy remnants."

"Yes!" That soldier looked at Su Ming'an and Chen Yuhang's youthful appearance, brow furrowed. He didn't believe the two were enemies, plus there was indeed a school nearby, but orders are orders.

Seeing the soldier raise his gun, Chen Yuhang instantly stepped in front of Su Ming'an: "Brother Wang! I understand now! I'm dreaming, you brought me into the dream! Right, otherwise, I wouldn't see such fantastical scenes, I still need to write my math paper tonight..."

Even though his mouth was trembling with fear, he didn't back away.

Su Ming'an gestured with his hand, signaling him to run up to the residential building.

"Rat-a-tat-tat—"

The gunfire sounded from behind, but none hit.

As they dashed into the residential building, Su Ming'an turned back to see that soldier hadn't followed but watched them a moment then turned and left.

"Bro, it seems he didn't intend to kill us..." Chen Yuhang said.

"Maybe he has children too," Su Ming'an said. After all, they really looked quite unrelated to war, more like students out scavenging for food.

"Letting us go on the battlefield, is it humanity, or defying orders?" Chen Yuhang followed Su Ming'an upstairs. At the staircase corner, he looked down once more, and that soldier was also looking up just then.

Their pitch-black eyes locked for a moment, Chen Yuhang clearly saw the wrinkles on the soldier's face and the yellowing skin, with several bruised black spots stretching across the neck. The soldier touched his gun, looked away.

He wouldn't say that his child died from being mistaken as a spy.

"...I don't know." Su Ming'an walked upward.

After experiencing the war in the Ruined World, he could no longer provide an answer to this kind of question. For the power holders, initiating a war was a necessary step, while for those displaced by war, they certainly had reasons to hate the power holders. Perhaps both sides of the war were just trying to achieve some cooperative goal, yet they let innocent young people be consumed to death like ants. Showing mercy might be an awakening of humanity, or it might be a weak concession.

The two walked upward in the residential building.

"Where are you going, big brother? What's so special about this residential building? It looks like it's about to collapse..." Chen Yuhang followed closely, with dust and stones underfoot, making him cough incessantly.

"Just follow me." Su Ming'an saw the Clue Insight red circle on the sixth floor, and this ordinary residential building surprisingly had clues.

Just then, they suddenly heard a loud noise, like something exploded not far away.

"Boom——!!"

Dust flew, sand and stones danced wildly. Amid Chen Yuhang's coughing, Su Ming'an looked out from the corridor——

Outside the stone walls divided into several holes, sunlight flickered in the smoke and dust, and a misty glow lingered within the Tyndall effect, reflecting the cold, condensate taste of gunpowder. He saw faraway buildings falling like wheat, engulfing the returning soldier.

The soldier barely ran a few steps before being consumed by the explosion. Under the collapsing bricks, only bloodstains and a charred black hand were left, with fingers spread wide, seemingly trying to grasp something.

Chen Yuhang watched this scene, looking——golden light playfully spinning in the air. The sunrise in the distance barely rose, enveloping the houses in morning light, like glue, yet like mist, like little silver elves laughing, rushing through tiny separated holes towards him.

"...Is this a dream?"

Silently, he spoke.

He looked at Su Ming'an with pleading eyes.

At least that campus belongs to the Eternal, without death.

Su Ming'an paused for a moment, looking at Chen Yuhang, who was about the same age as him. He had grown accustomed to death and war. But for an eighteen or nineteen-year-old student, such things were still too foreign.

"Maybe I shouldn't have brought you out?"

"No... no." Chen Yuhang sobered up a lot, clutching his pounding heart: "At least you showed me the truth, Brother Wang. It was the first time I felt truly alive, really breathing, really experiencing my own life. Instead of being a learning machine working through progress every day."

"Then let's go." Su Ming'an continued upward.

The two reached the sixth floor, where all the doors were tightly closed. Most people had already left, with only a few remaining at home seeking refuge.

Before Su Ming'an could knock, the door opened by itself, and a middle-aged woman with slightly gray hair, about fifty years old, quickly pulled him and Chen Yuhang inside:

"Quick! Come in! Don't stay outside! Have those forceful conscription guys already made it here? You guys hide in the attic, and I'll deal with them... Are they downstairs?"

It seemed the woman thought they were local young people seeking refuge from conscription. Daring to extend a helping hand during such times, she was indeed kind-hearted.

Coincidentally, a team of soldiers approached from downstairs, intending to investigate the situation of the previous soldier.

Su Ming'an didn't object, grabbing Chen Yuhang and going inside, following the woman's instructions up to the attic.

The dark, small attic was piled with some flour and brooms. Just as Su Ming'an was about to look for clues, he turned his head and saw—— a large red circle right on a person's face.

Apart from him and Chen Yuhang, there was another person in this attic! And this person was the clue!

Eyes met, and Su Ming'an was stunned.

"...Qin Si?"

With silver-white long hair, red eyes, and wearing a plain cloth dress—it was indeed the fifteenth team member, the healer Qin Si.

They were not familiar with each other, hardly exchanged a few words.

"Wang Xingkong? No... your scent is more like... Su Ming'an?" Qin Si had an extremely unique way of recognizing people. Su Ming'an wasn't a fragrant jellyfish now, yet somehow, she remembered Su Ming'an's scent.

"What are you doing here..." Su Ming'an asked.

"Shh..." Qin Si gestured for him to be quiet.

Outside the door, the soldiers knocked. The leading man had a broad back and a bear-like waist, wearing gloves and looking like an officer—ranked player Yuriklu, serving as an officer here.

"Gentlemen, there's no one at home, only an old lady like me..." the woman opened the door to talk.

Qin Si remained silent, as if waiting for the soldiers to leave before speaking.

In the meantime, Su Ming'an thought of switching perspectives to see if Sique had defeated the Goddess of Life. Quite some time had passed, so everything should have been settled.

...

[<Sique Perspective>·April 5, 2025, 17:20]

Su Ming'an opened his eyes.

In front of him were drifting white light particles, and he discovered he was standing on a high platform, with a feather pen clutched in his hand, arm raised forward.

Qi Jue was already lying on the ground, blood spewing from his mouth.

The feather pen in Su Ming'an's palm pierced through Qi Jue's chest like a purple-gold velvet knife. White light points scattered in the air around them, like a blizzard of the Life Source Stream. Su Ming'an's face maintained a somber expression, golden eyes slightly lowered, as his purple hair stained with blood.

...Really? Sique single-handedly defeated the Goddess of Life?

Su Ming'an looked around at the battle scars, confirming that Sique indeed had gone through a fierce battle, defeating the Goddess of Life. Qi Jue's life force was already very weak.

Even the Lord of the Undead Xi Ting lay on the ground with his head tilted, blood covering the floor.

"You..." Qi Jue continuously spat blood, staring tightly at Su Ming'an: "You even... killed... your own... OC (original character)... you heartless... magpie..."

Before Su Ming'an could say anything, he suddenly heard a system notification:

...

"Ding-dong!"

[On April 5, at 17:20, team player "Qin Si" passed away.]

[This death is permanent and cannot be revived.]

[Team Remaining: 14/15]

...

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