Chapter 465: So Quiet

Lin felt that they definitely hadn't woken up this morning.

No, it wasn't just not waking up—Lin suspected they might have been hit by some advanced hypnosis, or ambushed by a Servant skilled in mental attacks, or perhaps sleepwalked out last night and ran a full marathon.

Otherwise, how could they explain Lin's current condition?

"Ha… ha…"

Lin leaned on the roadside vending machine, panting heavily, fine beads of sweat seeping from their forehead, "San… San Yue Jie… did we really not get attacked? Why do I feel… so, so tired…"

San Yue Qi stood beside Lin, their expression unusually complex.

A third was guilt.

A third was awkwardness.

A third was "How should I explain?"

And a part of a smile that was about to burst.

"Um… this…"

Lin scratched their face, their pink eyes glancing elsewhere guiltily, "Maybe it's, it's Magic Power Consumption! Yes, Magic Power Consumption!"

They spoke faster and faster, their speech rapid:

"Look, Lin, this is your first time as a Master, right? Although your Magic Talent is high, your body hasn't fully adapted to the Servant Contract's Magic Power Cycle! Yesterday when you summoned me it consumed a lot, and this morning again… um… maybe your subconscious is also maintaining the contract… In short, the consumption is huge! You're hungry, aren't you? Let's get something to eat and replenish energy! Once we're full we won't be tired!"

Lin finished in one breath, shocked even by their own ability to babble.

(Perfect! Logical loop! Lin definitely won't notice!)

Lin looked at them suspiciously, their blue eyes filled with an instinctive doubt of "You're lying to me, right?"

But Lin was indeed hungry.

"... Alright." Lin straightened up, rubbing their sore shoulders, "Then what shall we eat?"

"Hmm… yeah, what shall we eat?" San Yue Qi tilted their head, pondering.

Just then—

Lin suddenly noticed something.

The street was so quiet.

Utterly empty.

Lin turned around and looked in all directions.

The shop doors on both sides of the commercial street were tightly shut.

The convenience store's rolling shutters were pulled down, the café's window glass was grayish, and even the 24-hour chain store had its lights off.

No one.

No cars.

No stray cats.

Not even wind.

The leaves on the street trees were motionless, like frozen green paper cutouts.

"... Lin." San Yue Qi's voice lowered, uncertain, "Do you feel… like there aren't many people on the street?"

Lin was still rubbing their shoulders, and froze at the words.

Lin lifted their head, scanning the surroundings.

Three seconds later, their expression changed completely.

"This is…" Lin's pupils narrowed slightly, "No, this isn't right."

Lin hurried to the middle of the street, looking left and right.

The intersection traffic lights were still flashing in order—red, green, yellow, red, green, yellow—but no car passed.

The crosswalk was empty, and the opposite sidewalk was also deserted.

The distant building complex stood quietly, its windows pitch black, like countless hollow eyes.

"... This isn't just few people." Lin's voice was pressed low, with a tension they themselves hadn't noticed, "This is absolutely no one."

San Yue Qi subconsciously assumed a bow‑holding stance. Pale‑blue Magic flickered faintly in their palm.

"Lin."

San Yue Qi, unusually serious, asked, "Did we… accidentally wander into somewhere?"

Lin gave no answer.

Lin took out several polished gems from their chest—those were their usual Magic Catalyst, also their most reliable weapon.

The gems emitted a faint blue glow in Lin's palm.

"... I don't know." Lin's voice was soft, "But this place feels off. Very off."

San Yue Qi was about to say something—

"Tick!!!"

A sharp, alarm-like sound, like a smashed alarm clock, exploded in Lin's mind!

It's Clockboy!

It leapt violently from San Yue Qi's shoulder, its slender arm pointing somewhere, its beady eyes filled with urgent alarm!

"Fen Mao! Right side! Seven o'clock direction! No, it's three o'clock now—doesn't matter what time—watch out, Tick!!!"

San Yue Qi had no time to think.

Their body was faster than their mind.

"Za—Wa—Lu—Duo—!!!"

The slogan was shouted crisply, its momentum like a rainbow.

Time stopped.

The world was paused in an instant.

Lin kept a vigilant, turned‑back posture; her black twin‑tails froze in midair, and the gem in her hand had just left her palm, hovering three centimeters from her fingertips like a blue tear suspended in amber.

The windows of distant buildings remained pitch‑black.

The red light of the traffic signal solidified within its lantern.

The leaves of the street trees did not stir a hair.

And San Yue Qi's gaze was already locked onto one direction—

Just behind Lin.

Within fifty centimeters of Lin's back.

A Black Shadow.

It had a humanoid outline, yet blurred like a lump of wet ink.

No facial features, no details, only the edges faintly traced arms, torso, and—

a jet‑black blade extending from its right hand.

The tip of that blade was less than five centimeters from Lin's lower back.

San Yue Qi's pupils suddenly contracted.

She saw the outline of the Black Shadow—its hunchbacked shape, strange bent‑leg posture, and that face…

No, there was no face, only countless overlapping facial silhouettes drifting on its surface.

She had seen this before.

Ten years ago.

On the battlefield of the Fourth Holy Grail War.

(Is this… assassin?!)

There was no time to think further.

San Yue Qi drew her bow.

Mana coalesced in an instant into an ice‑blue arrow, and the bowstring tightened to its limit at her fingertips.

Her movements were unbelievably smooth—this body, this bow, this arrow, as if she had rehearsed them thousands of times.

She released the string.

Ice Arrow left the string.

Seven seconds.

Clockboy had said her Time Stop could only last seven seconds.

San Yue Qi counted silently in her mind.

Five.

The arrow passed over Lin's shoulder.

Three.

The arrowhead touched the edge of the Black Shadow.

One.

Ice crystals exploded on the Black Shadow's surface, freezing spider‑web‑like fissures—

Time resumed its flow.

"—Boom!!!"

Almost the same instant the finger‑snap sounded, the Black Shadow was violently hurled by a massive impact!

The Ice Arrow, regaining full kinetic energy in the restored flow of time and space, pierced straight through the Black Shadow's torso, thrust it three meters backward, and slammed it hard into the outer wall of a closed clothing shop on the street corner!

"Bang!!!"

Bricks and stone splintered, cracks spreading like spider webs.

The Black Shadow writhed twice on the wall, its edges beginning to disintegrate—like a snowman melted by sunlight, like an ink painting washed by rain, its outline growing ever more vague and faint.

Finally, it vanished completely.

Only the lingering Frost Trace on the wall remained, proving that what had just occurred was not an illusion.

Lin stood where she was.

She still clutched the gem she hadn't managed to throw, maintaining a turned‑back guard stance, her mouth slightly open.

"... Eh?"