Chapter 558: Victory

Sha Jin lay there, his whole being could no longer be described as disheveled.

His once‑splendid robes were now worse than rags, torn all over, exposing the ashen skin beneath.

Dust mixed with sweat and dried blood coated him layer after layer.

His golden hair was a tangle of weeds, a few strands stuck to his face, held by clots of blood.

His sunglasses had long vanished, revealing the pair of eyes beneath, filled with fatigue.

He lay like that, motionless.

He lay for a long time.

Long enough that the drifting dust settled a thin layer upon him.

Then Sha Jin moved.

He pushed against the ground to sit up, shook his dizzy head, glanced at the surrounding ruins, then at the three Mystic Cards in his hand.

He suddenly laughed.

The laugh began as a hoarse chuckle, grew louder and louder, and finally turned into a full‑bellowed laugh.

"Hahaha—!"

The laughter echoed through the empty ruins.

"Who else?"

He laughed as he said, "Who else—!"

He swayed as he stood, his legs went weak and he almost fell again, steadying himself by grabbing a protruding stone.

He panted, looked around, his voice cracking:

"Come again! If you have the skill, come again!"

He bent over, coughed a few times, his chest hurting badly.

But a smile still hung on his face.

"Hehehe…"

Sha Jin straightened, inhaled deeply, finally calming a bit.

He now cared nothing about any image.

All elegance, composure, even a gambler's flair— all fed to the dogs.

Anyway, there was no one.

Sha Jin stuffed the Mystic Cards into his pocket, exhaled a puff of foul breath.

No matter what, he won.

One against three, his power suppressed in this broken world, yet he still won.

"Heh."

He was about to turn and leave when he suddenly sensed something off.

He snapped his head—

There was nothing.

Only ruins and wind.

Sha Jin let out a sigh.

He turned his head the other way—

Also nothing.

He spun around—

Nothing at all.

Sha Jin finally relaxed completely.

A smile returned to his face, though it now looked a bit comical.

"Looks like it's truly gone."

He stepped forward, preparing to find a direction and leave.

Then he saw a troop of Monkeys.

They surged from all directions of the ruins, yellow silhouettes dense and countless, some as tall as two people, some only calf‑length.

They formed a circle, encircling him, slowly closing in from afar.

Sha Jin stood still, watching the Monkeys.

He was silent for three seconds.

Then he laughed.

The smile carried fatigue, resignation, and a hint of "I've finally had an eye‑opening today".

"Is that all?"

The words barely left his mouth when his occiput throbbed!

"Bang!"

A small Monkey had somehow darted behind him, brandishing a steel rod of unknown origin, and hammered it hard onto his back of the head!

Sha Jin's eyes widened, his body shook, and then—

"Thud!"

He fell straight onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The Mystic Cards in his hand scattered across the ground, faintly glimmering in the sunlight.

The Monkeys gathered around, bowing their heads to the fallen fellow, emitting a chorus of "Jiaojiao" sounds.

A figure stepped out from the Monkey horde.

It was a Monkeys wearing a white lab coat, with a pair of round Vortex Glasses perched on its nose bridge.

It walked to Sha Jin's side and lowered its head to glance at the three scattered Mystic Cards on the ground.

"Tsk tsk tsk."

Squatting down, it picked up the three cards one by one and shone them toward the dim yellow sky.

"Saber... Berserker... Archer... all good cards."

It slipped the three cards into the pocket of its white lab coat, then lowered its head to look at Sha Jin lying on the ground.

A meaning‑laden smile appeared on the monkey's face.

"What a pity, Mr. Gambler."

Perspective shift.

The elevator doors opened.

A Xing stepped out, her foot landing on the corridor carpeted with dark flooring.

She looked left and right—the corridor was quiet, the doors on both sides tightly shut, and the overhead lights emitted a soft glow.

Everything was much as she had imagined.

But something seemed off.

A Xing tilted her head and glanced around again.

She couldn't pinpoint what was wrong; it just felt... a bit strange.

She blinked and decided not to think about it.

Whatever, she thought, just follow the plan.

A Xing walked forward along the corridor, clutching the room card she had received from the front desk.

According to her recent investigation, that purple‑haired woman and Huo Huo should be in some room of this building.

She had expected to encounter some obstacle midway, or perhaps henchmen of the purple‑haired woman.

But there was nothing.

The corridor was empty, quiet to an excessive degree.

A Xing thought expressionlessly: It's going quite smoothly.

She approached a window and looked down.

This was the "entrance" in her plan—drop from the window, break through, and catch the opponent off guard.

She pulled a rope from her personal space—no gun, but the rope was there.

She tied one end of the rope to the window frame, gave it a firm tug to ensure it was secure.

Then she vaulted over the windowsill and began to slide down.

Wind whistled past her ears, and her gray hair fluttered backward.

One floor, two floors, three floors—

A Xing suddenly stopped.

She lowered her head to look down.

Below was still very high.

She raised her head to look up.

Above was also very high.

A Xing fell silent.

How many floors was the one she had just been on... again?

She recalled pressing the button for the twenties? Or the thirties?

But at this height, it felt like—

the fifties?

A Xing blinked.

She extended a leg, tentatively stepped on the next floor's windowsill, then hung suspended in mid‑air and looked down again.

Indeed, far below.

Extremely far below.

A Xing expressionlessly withdrew her leg, flipped back to the previous window, and climbed back into the corridor.

She stood by the window, staring at the sky outside for a while.

Then she noticed something.

The sign on the building outside the window had its characters reversed.

A Xing tilted her head.

She turned to look at the emergency exit sign at the other end of the corridor—the characters there were also reversed.

She glanced again at the room number on the wall—the digits were reversed, but she wasn't sure what the reversed numbers meant.

A Xing stood still, silent for three seconds.

Then she drew a conclusion:

"Abnormal."

A Xing decided to investigate first.

She walked to the nearest room doorway; the door was ajar and unlocked.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The room was spacious, its decor quite luxurious.

Beyond the floor‑to‑ceiling window lay a gray‑hazy sky, and the reversed signs in the distance were visible.

But the most eye‑catching were the strange instruments and equipment in the room.

On the metal tabletop lay various unnamed machines—some glass‑tube, some metal‑cased, with buttons and displays.

On the wall hung some drawings, depicting complex diagrams and symbols—all reversed, incomprehensible.

In the corner lay… bananas.

Bananas everywhere.

On the coffee table sat a plate of bananas, on the cabinet a bunch of bananas, in the corner a crate of bananas, and even from the ceiling hung a few bananas—no, those were decorations.

A Xing expressionlessly glanced around.

(Scientist? Researcher? Banana seller?)