[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-after-the-sky-fell":3,"chapter-after-the-sky-fell-after-the-sky-fell-chapter-868":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","After the Sky Fell",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2281724,4462,"Chapter 868","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-868",868,"\u003Cp>I never expected such a strange cross-dimensional point to be hidden within Tianchang City—though I have no idea what kind of world this is.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi stood by the window, carefully observing this new world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This world was clearly modern, but its technology seemed underdeveloped; the cars on the road were all outdated, and the buildings appeared stuck in the 1990s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief observation, he gained no further information.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s go out and take a look.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi decided to walk around, see this world with his own eyes, then try to find a way to destroy this building. Whether his avatar could return to Earth didn’t matter—he could just die here without consequence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he turned to retrace his steps, he suddenly froze, his gaze locking onto the dining table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, there had been three bowls of rice and three dishes on the table—but now only empty plates remained, as if someone had come at some point and devoured every last bite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The plate holding the braised fish contained only the intact head; its gray-white eyes seemed to stare directly at Li Yi, spreading an unsettling, eerie aura around him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scattered, twisted corpses of the evolvers spoke volumes: this building was far from ordinary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These evolvers, like Li Yi, had entered this world through food as a medium—logically, they shouldn’t have been trapped here at all; at the very least, they could have left the building and reached the outside world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is this building also problematic in this world?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Li Yi noticed that his location was some distance from the area where normal people lived—at least three kilometers away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though there were many old residential buildings nearby, all were utterly silent, completely empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a place abandoned—or sealed off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Like World 36, if a haunted location can’t be resolved, it gets sealed. It seems the people here know this place is dangerous—so what I need to do now is find a way to escape this residential building?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi didn’t act rashly. His experience as a messenger told him this world harbored some incomprehensible eerie force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief pause, he tried stepping out of the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi entered the dim corridor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The corridor was silent, and only this one spot showed signs of habitation—all other areas were abandoned, just as they had been when he first entered the building. He hurried down the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, Li Yi reached the first floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when he looked outside, his expression darkened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside the corridor wasn’t the outside world—it was another room, identical in layout to the one he’d just left: the same dining table, with three empty plates and three empty bowls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he stepped out of the corridor, he found himself back inside the same room again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an endless loop, trapping Li Yi here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Yi wasn’t surprised—if this building were this easy to escape, those evolvers wouldn’t have died trapped inside; they’d have left long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then went to the window, attempting to climb out and leap from the building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the window was sealed shut—he couldn’t open it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took a deep breath, raised his fist, and punched forward. Though this was only an avatar, the power unleashed could easily flatten an entire building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His punch struck the window—the whole building shook violently, cracks spreading rapidly along the walls—but the window didn’t shatter, and the broken walls repaired themselves at an unimaginable speed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, an incomprehensible force resides here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This force didn’t belong to cosmic energy—it resembled something like spiritual horror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I hate these eerie worlds—feels like all my martial strength is useless, constrained and helpless, and now I have to think my way out.” Li Yi stopped trying brute force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If sheer power could get him out, those evolvers would’ve escaped long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he calmed down, ceased destroying anything here, afraid that reckless actions might cause him to miss the key to escaping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe the spiritual artifacts from World 36 could work here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi instinctively touched his wrist—he remembered collecting many black sheets of paper. Perhaps he could use their power to escape. But then he realized: this was his avatar—he carried nothing, empty-handed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With no other option, he turned his attention to the evolvers trapped and dead here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi searched the corpses for relics—and found quite a few things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several dead smartphones, a battle blade forged from exotic metal, a nanometal suit, and a storage ring from the Xuan Immortal Continent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what puzzled Li Yi was that inside the storage ring were nutrient solution, nutrient pods, and some elixirs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant this evolver hadn’t starved to death—he was killed here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he’d starved, there’d be no food left in the storage ring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So this building wasn’t merely trapping people—it had once unleashed some terrifying danger. If Li Yi stayed here too long, he’d likely meet the same fate: death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though his avatar dying here didn’t matter, if it was destroyed, Li Yi himself would never investigate this place again—effectively declaring this mission a failure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced at the wall clock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was already 5:20 p.m.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside, dusk had fallen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Based on Li Yi’s guess, if he was safe during daylight, then night would bring danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I came to this world after eating that bowl of rice—so the key to breaking the cycle must lie on this dining table.” His gaze returned to the empty plates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fish’s skull, stripped of flesh, still stared at Li Yi with its gray-white eyes—a lifeless gaze that seemed to whisper: Death is coming. If you don’t act soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi walked into the kitchen. If the meal had been eaten, perhaps he could cook another one, restore the table to its original state, and satisfy some condition to escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after searching the kitchen, he found nothing—utterly empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no ingredients to cook with—his idea was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when Li Yi turned on the kitchen faucet, clear, clean water flowed out, cool to the touch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If all else fails… wash the bowls?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He suddenly had this bizarre thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Li Yi actually did it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took all the empty plates and bowls to the kitchen and washed them clean. The unsettling fish head, he tossed into the kitchen trash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least he’d tried—otherwise, he’d have no recourse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Afterward, he wandered the rest of the building, searching for anything unusual. Outside, night was approaching fast. A premonition told him: if he didn’t find a way out, he wouldn’t survive the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, he carefully circled the entire room again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Li Yi opened a wardrobe, he froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside hung row after row of paper clothes—red, green, and garish. These weren’t clothes for the living—they were funeral offerings for the dead. Worse, the most chilling detail: these clothes showed signs of use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who would wear paper clothes outside?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The cold rice on the table, the paper clothes in the wardrobe—I understand now,” Li Yi breathed deeply. “This isn’t a house for the living—it’s a spirit dwelling. It’s daytime now, so the owner hasn’t appeared. But when night falls, the living sleep, and the dead awaken—then terror arrives.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I hate this place. Next time, I should send Yang Wei—he’s better suited for handling ghosts.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One thing was certain: ghosts existed in this world too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only question was whether these ghosts could be killed—if they could, then there was no problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi didn’t touch the paper clothes. He continued searching elsewhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a corner of another room, he found something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A gray-white paper umbrella.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi picked it up, examined it—it was just an ordinary paper umbrella, not a spiritual artifact. He could easily destroy it, but he didn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The paper clothes and the paper umbrella might be the key to escaping.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This thought came to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi’s reasoning was simple: if this was a spirit dwelling, then the dead could come and go freely. If he became one of them, he could walk out easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t need to be truly dead—only perceived as dead by this spirit dwelling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eat the dead’s meal, wear the dead’s clothes—and by nightfall, he might become one of them.\u003C\u002Fp>",1365,"2026-06-20T01:27:08.613Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","4c56b167b3dbd07db393e734f047a023b67e4348733be972f111b8fe9956b3e2","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-869","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-867",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fafter-the-sky-fell-cover.jpg"]