Chapter 555: I'm Back

Bai Hang broke out in goosebumps from his stare.

(Stop looking, stop looking, stop looking…)

She hurriedly pointed into the distance: "There seems to be a strong Magic Wave over there! Did something happen? Let's go quickly and check!"

After speaking, without waiting for Jing Yuan's reply, she turned and ran toward that direction.

Her steps were frantic.

Jing Yuan stood in place, watching the frantic figure's back.

The smile on his face slowly faded.

He let out a soft sigh.

Within that sigh lay too many unspeakable things.

Perspective shift.

The shop was very quiet.

The dim yellow light fell on the empty seats, and a faint scent of mapo tofu drifted in the air.

Behind the counter there was no one; the condiment bottles were neatly arranged, and a half pot of uncooked noodles sat on the stove—yet there was nobody.

San Yue Qi scanned the area warily.

That Yan Feng fellow was not there.

This was his shop; he wasn't inside—where had he gone?

But he couldn't worry about that now.

Ying's body was as soft as a lump of cotton; she could barely move only because San Yue Qi was supporting her.

Beads of sweat still clung to her forehead, a few strands of purple hair stuck to her cheek, the collar of her school uniform was slightly open, revealing a small patch of sweat‑soaked skin.

"Ying? Ying, are you okay?"

San Yue Qi helped her onto a chair.

Ying leaned against the back of the chair, her eyes half‑closed, her lips slightly pale.

"A little… dizzy…" Her voice was as tiny as a mosquito's hum.

San Yue Qi grew urgent.

In Ying's condition now, she must be dehydrated!

"Hold on! I'll go get water!"

She settled Ying, then turned and rushed into the back kitchen.

Ying lay on the table, her consciousness beginning to blur.

Her eyelids grew heavier, the surrounding sounds receded farther, and finally—

she sank into darkness.

Ying didn't know how long she had slept.

She only knew she was now standing in a void of darkness.

No, not a void.

Something was beneath her feet—not ground, but some transparent substance.

She looked down and found herself walking atop a vast starry sky.

Stars swirled beneath her feet, and the galaxy turned slowly in the distance.

Ying's pupils contracted slightly.

(Is this… the universe?)

She lifted her head.

Something lay ahead.

A huge thing that filled the entire view—

It was a hammer.

A golden, unimaginably massive hammer was pounding down repeatedly onto something.

With each strike, countless tiny specks of light exploded beneath the hammer.

Those specks—

were insects.

Ying's breathing halted.

She saw.

countless insects.

The large ones were as big as planets, slowly writhing through the starry sky; the small ones were like dust, densely clustering together.

They covered the whole view, stretching from one end to the other, endless and boundless.

The gigantic insects exploded under the hammer, their bodies disintegrating, juices splattering, yet more insects surged from all directions to fill the void.

The hammer struck down again and again.

Waves of insects died.

But the insects could never be fully slain.

Ying saw a massive insect—larger than all the previous ones, almost the size of a star—being struck by the hammer.

Its body disintegrated, and at that instant, more insects poured out from its shattered shell.

Those insects surged elsewhere, continuing to reproduce, to spread, to—

Ying could not comprehend what she had seen.

Her mind was a blank.

Those images were too grand, too terrifying, completely beyond the limits of her Cognition.

She could only stare blankly.

Staring at the endless starry sky and the endless Insect Tide.

She didn't know how long had passed.

It could have been a second, or ten thousand years.

Ying suddenly felt someone shaking her.

"Ying! Ying!"

San Yue Qi's voice came from far away.

Ying snapped open her eyes!

Cold sweat soaked her whole body, the school uniform clung to her skin, and her hair, wet, stuck to her cheeks and forehead.

In front of her was San Yue Qi's tense face.

"Ying! You're awake?! What happened to you just now? No matter how I called, you wouldn't wake!"

Ying opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.

Those images—she could no longer recall them clearly.

Only an indescribable fear lingered in her heart.

San Yue Qi handed a cup of water to her lips: "Drink some water first. It might not taste good, but it's better than nothing."

Ying took the cup and weakly took a sip.

San Yue Qi stared at her anxiously: "How is it?"

Ying was stunned for a moment.

The taste of the water… was perfectly normal.

She took another sip.

It truly was normal.

"It's okay," she said.

San Yue Qi blinked: "Eh?"

She looked down at the other cup of water in her hand, hesitated, then tipped her head back and gulped a large mouthful.

Normal.

She was stunned.

"That's not right…"

San Yue Qi murmured, "The water and food in this world should be terrible to eat… Lin and I tried before, it was bitter and astringent… How could it be…"

She suddenly realized something, sprang to her feet, and rushed toward the front door!

She yanked the door open!

Outside—

It was a normal street.

The sun shone brightly, and pedestrians hurried.

Housewives lugged shopping bags, chatting at the convenience store entrance, and a bus screeched to a halt at the stop.

The characters on the sign were all upright.

San Yue Qi froze in place, mouth agape.

They're back.

They've returned.

Perspective shift.

Sha Jin sat amid a pile of rubble, his whole body covered in dust and grime, looking like a laborer who had just crawled out of a construction site.

His once‑splendid robe had lost its original color, now all gray and torn with several large holes.

His golden hair was a mess like a chicken coop, a few strands stuck to his forehead, stained with something that might be sweat or blood.

The worst part was his sunglasses—only half a lens still clung to his face, the other half vanished, revealing the weary eyes beneath.

He held a golden weight in his hand; its surface bore a few fine cracks that glimmered faintly in the sunlight.

In his other hand he clutched two Mystic Cards.

The two cards were about palm‑size, made of some special plastic, their surface emitting a faint glow.

One bore a black giant illustration, the other a Black Armor Swordsman—exactly the two foes he had just eliminated.

Sha Jin stared back and forth at the two cards, his brows knotted.

"What is this thing?"

He tried to input mana; the card faintly glowed, but nothing happened.

He pinched it again; the material was quite hard, it wouldn't budge.

Finally he held the card up to the sunlight and could see some intricate patterns flowing slowly inside.

He couldn't understand.

Forget it.

He stuffed the two cards into his pocket, together with the cracked weight.

"What the heck, that's it."

Sha Jin tugged at the corner of his mouth, trying to smile, but the smile looked like a grimace.

He had indeed won.

One versus two, he stubbornly withstood the suppressed power and eliminated those two monsters.

The process... well, I don't really want to recall it.

Anyway, it's just a gamble—put all the chips on the line, and then win.

Just like he's done his whole life.

"Fate is still on my side."

He muttered to himself, his voice hoarse.

But look at himself now—

He couldn't help laughing out loud, and that laugh echoed in the empty ruins, sounding a bit bleak.

"What the heck is going on……"

He tilted his head up to look at the gray, overcast sky and let out a long sigh.

I just came to watch the fun, how did it end up like this?

He thought of that pink-haired girl.

"I hope Miss San Yue Qi managed to climb up."

Sha Jin pushed himself up from the ground, brushed off the dust—actually brushing was pointless, the dust had already seeped into his clothes.

He really didn't want to keep going along with it.

"Holy Grail War, Servant Master—whoever wants to play can play, I just want to find a place to get a good sleep."